


Dear Wormwood

by ByteBug



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: (more or less), Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Angst, Chatlogs, Conspiracy, Fic named after album of the same name, Humor, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mika & Arashi: Ace Detectives, Multi, Mystery, OCs are basically all anonymous chat users or teachers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Totally-not-pesterlogs, Vomiting, disregards canon past the 'rockin star' event, eichi is pretty much anime regina george, excessive use of kaomojis, liberal application of schrodingers cat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-07-29 18:37:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7695064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByteBug/pseuds/ByteBug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An increasingly stressful social life, a ghost who keeps harassing him on the School SMS, and a mystery which reveals the dark underbelly of Yumenosaki.</p>
<p>Mika Kagehira learns a lot about both himself and his school.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>13/09/17 - Fic is dead for now. Check notes inside for a summary of the what the rest of the story would've been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> 13/09/17 - Dead/Discontinued Fic
> 
> But for those who were interested in how it would've ended, [here's a chapter by chapter summary of what the rest of the story would've been.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bdDYXIFvbIShgRDzNPTmtMtJ80m4Fu3xeImR_Jnsdsw/edit?usp=drive_web)

Yumenosaki Private Academy - a shining beacon of power and prestige in the otherwise quiet coastal town of Kaiganmura. Though posing as a regular school, with a grand three-story main building, lavish facilities and over one-thousand incumbent students in the Regular Course, it was no secret that this outside face is merely a façade, designed to cover up the true purpose of Yumenosaki’s existence. Beyond the masquerade, the school was an idol recruitment agency, made to specially intake, raise, and ultimately sponsor and produce idols. 

It was an effective business; reportedly over seventy percent of Japan’s top charting idols were from Yumenosaki, or at least tied to it on a corporate level. To say that the school’s domination of the idol scene was evident would be vastly understating it. It was simple: if you, a young teenager, wanted to make it in the harsh and unforgiving world of the idol entertainment industry, attending Yumenosaki was pretty much a requirement.

Criticism had been fired towards the school, not just of its monopoly over the idol industry, but of the ethics behind its purpose as well. The idol world was a ruthless one, rigorous in its demands and cutthroat in its attitude. The question was always the same: was it right to train impressionable teenagers to mould themselves into the kind of person who would make it in such an industry, even if it meant suppressing their own emotions and individuality in exchange?

\---

Mika Kagehira gazed at the scuff markings on the otherwise polished dance floor; the rubbery black marks marring the clean surface, like burn scars on pale flesh. From his prone position, spread tiredly on the ground, he could see that the marks were not just in front of him, but all over the floor: evidence of the intense dance session that had been taking place here for the last hour. They were proof of his hard work - well, no, not just his. Hardly his at all, really: it was too early in the morning for Mika to gather any good amount of energy to put into the practice, not helped by the late shift he’d had at the convenience store last night. He wanted to be able to put more effort in, he really did! But there were limits the human body could be pushed to…

A pair of feet blocked Mika’s view. Yes, there were limits, but likewise, there were people who refused to accept those limits.

“Kagehira, get up. We’re not done here.” Mika shifted his eyes slowly upwards, from the feet, up slender legs, over a delicate chest, and finally to meet glaring purple eyes. 

Shu Itsuki was one of those people.

“Aaah, Oshi-san, ‘m so tired. Just gimme ten minutes…” Mika pleaded. He meant it: he knew how important these early morning practices were. Not only were they one of the few times where Valkyrie could book a practice room, the idol group had a live that evening at one of the smaller clubs in town. While places like cafés and bars in Kaiganmura often hosted unofficial idol performances, ever since Valkyrie’s fall from grace it’d been harder to find places who wanted them. It was difficult to swallow, but for a unit who had taken such a bad hit to their reputation as Valkyrie had, it was almost impossible to regain their former prestige. And that was why Mika wanted to work so hard! Not just for Valkyrie’s reputation, but for Shu’s as well! He _knew_ that Shu was a genius; Mika had been part of his strictly controlled lives for a while now, and he’d seen first-hand the level of thought and detail that went into every aspect of Shu’s perfectly executed performances. 

But even so, surely a quick ten minute break could be excused. Mika was sure he’d die if he kept moving at the rigorous pace Shu was pushing today.

“I don’t have time to indulge your complaints, Kagehira. If you’re tired, you should’ve gotten more sleep. As we are, we’re in no state to represent the name of Valkyrie proudly this evening. You’re messing up the moves during the bridge, there’s lighting and setting to be finished, and you’re still out of time on the chorus.” Shu teared into Mika’s failings without remorse. That was just how he was, but as Mika constantly reminded himself, he should be glad for it. He still had a long way to go as an idol before he would be anywhere near Shu's level. 

Since the disaster that had been the end of the last year, with both Fine’s sabotage of Valkyrie’s live as well as Nazuna’s departure from the group, Shu had been almost despondent. He had become even more reclusive than he had been before. Mika had often wandered in late at night only to still find Shu wide awake, working on an outfit for one of his dolls. Valkyrie had even almost been disbanded altogether, had Fine’s leader - also the cause of last year’s catastrophe - not forced them into a live during Tanabata. It had been sometime during summer, when suddenly, Shu seemed to come back to life, and while not as energetic as he had been the previous year, he’d begun to throw himself into finding, organising and creating lives as he had before; in some ways with even more vigour, now that he had something to prove. 

Being mid-autumn now, Valkyrie had been part of a steady number of both unofficial and school-mandated lives. Mika was ecstatic to see his leader back to form, but the downside of this revitalisation was that it meant practices were harder than ever before. 

“Five minutes then! I’m gonna die…” Mika whined, deciding to give it one last push. Shu glared stonily at the black-haired boy lying despairingly on the ground with sweat clinging to his clothes, before stalking over to the other side of the room, where he grabbed a plastic water bottle, still mostly full.

“Tch. Five minutes then. I’ll grant you that, but nothing more!”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Mika pulled himself up into a sitting position, where he leaned lazily into the mirror wall behind him. If he had the energy, he’d probably go and get himself a drink as well, but as it was, he was fine to just sit here for now. Reaching up and grabbing his jacket that hung on the wooden railing above him, he pulled it into his lap and took out his phone from the pocket. It was a sleek smartphone, with a glossy black case. He only gotten it a week ago, replacing his old outdated flip phone. It had used to belong to Shu, however he had recently received a new model from his parents in the mail, prompting Shu to “offer” (or rather, force) his old phone onto Mika. Since then, Mika had enjoyed as much free time as he could find around practices, lives and part-time work to play with it: the novelty of a touch-controlled phone had yet to wear thin.

One of Mika’s favourite discoveries was the capability to now access Yumenosaki’s school network. From that, he’d been able to find out information regarding other unit’s practice times, and when certain facilities were free, as well as events and lives taking place around the town. Most exciting of all for Mika was the School SMS, a chatroom system where students could start conversations in either a private chat with another student, or in a public memo. Upon finding out about this feature, Mika had spent the next two hours looking through various public memos. Once he’d figured out how to actually send messages, he’d immediately sent one to Shu. He’d gotten back a harsh reply in return, discovering that it would be better to just find Shu in person if he wanted to say something.

Eagerly, Mika decided to use his precious five minutes to log into his account and see what memos were currently active. Unlike private chats, memos were temporary, disappearing once they reached a certain age or a certain amount of posts, meaning that there were always new ones for Mika to look forward to reading. As it was, he was disappointed to see that there was only one currently ongoing memo, but it made sense, considering the time. Quickly, he tapped on the banner, bearing the name of the memo, as well as a crudely drawn picture of a yo-kai.

[Entering Memo: ‘Seven Yumenosaki Mysteries??? Help with H/W pls!’]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

[Memo created: 06.42]  
[GreatGyroid [GG] entered memo]  
GG: help! i got hist homework due p2 today and i’ve only just started it!! i’m gonna die orz  
GG: i’m supposed to ‘write a short essay about yumenosaki’s history’ or smthn. i think i’m gonna do it on the seven yumenosaki mysteries i’ve heard about.  
GG: can someone pls explain what they actually are  
[BlowingtheRoofoff [BR] entered memo]  
BR: L M A O  
BR: Are you like a first year? What kind of homework is that?  
GG: yes i am! pls help!  
GG: short essay, abt 500 wordsish??  
BR: LOL wait until you get to third year. Then you’ll wish you had 500 word essays for homework.  
BR: Normally I wouldn’t give firsties the time of day, but I’m bored.  
BR: I’m on library duty right now, come here and I’ll lend you a book about the school’s history, I think there some stuff on the seven mysteries in that.  
GG: thank u senpai!!!  
GG: oh but i’m at home rn and the school is a 20 min run away…  
GG: could you bring it to my house? i’ll send u my address  
[SunshineEyes [SE]  entered memo]  
BR: …What the h***  
BR: I mean *heck  
BR: You’re hopeless.  
GG: is that a yes?  
BR: No. Good luck LOL  
[BlowingtheRoofoff [BR] left memo]  
GG: no senpai!!  
GG: this is impossible orz…  
GG: SE can u help me pls?  
GG: …  
GG: cmon don’t just be a lurker  
GG: ugggghh takahashi-sensei is gonna kill me  
[DearWormwood [DW] entered memo]  
DW: i can help you  
DW: you want to know about the seven yumenosaki mysteries right?  
GG: yes, thank u!  
DW: well firstly  
DW: every time you look at this picture of bach in the idol course music room  
DW: its hair grows longer  
GG: really? that’s dumb lol  
DW: hey don’t shoot the messenger  
GG: sry pls carry on  
DW: again in the idol course music room  
DW: the piano plays itself  
DW: pretty cliche huh  
GG: yh a bit  
DW: next is the old classic  
DW: some chick jumped off the roof in the 2000s and their ghost still haunts the school  
GG: :O that’s scary! i didn’t know the school was haunted  
DW: oh yeah  
DW: this place is so haunted  
DW: ghosts busting out the seams  
DW: you gotta keep your attention up all the time otherwise whoosh they get you  
DW: and then youre added to their leagues  
GG: omg  
DW: they have their own gang  
DW: the ghost gang  
DW: ghoga for short  
GG: im getting a little scared now…  
DW: thats not even the scariest part yet  
GG: :OOO  
DW: yeah the worst is  
DW: their favourite snack  
DW: of all time  
GG: yh???????  
DW: are little first years who didnt do their history homework  
GG: :I  
GG: if ur not gonna be srs dont bother helpin at all  
GG: ugh  
GG: im just gonna take the hit  
DW: nah most of that is the real deal  
[GreatGyroid [GG] left the memo]  
DW: oh well  
DW: his loss  
SE: Um, I don’t want to interrupt, but have you heard of the one about the storage cupboard shelf?  
DW: oh so the lurker can talk  
DW: i havent as a matter of fact  
DW: tell me more  
SE: Well, apparently there is a particular storage cupboard shelf in the school, which, when a teacher or student places an object on that shelf, makes that object disappear completely.  
DW: spooky  
SE: I think so too! Naru-chan, one of my friends, says he lost his favourite purse because of it.  
DW: ill be sure to keep a lookout for it then  
SE: Are you interested in things like this?  
DW: you mean urban legends and supernatural stuff?  
SE: Yes.  
DW: not really lmao  
DW: its pretty stupid  
DW: i mean who actually believes that kind of thing  
SE: I do…

DW didn’t reply after that, and Mika presumed the other user had left to do something else, or had simply gotten bored with the conversation. Mika didn’t blame them; he wasn’t a particularly good conversation partner. Still awkward and unused to the chat system, Mika didn’t often actually talk on memos, preferring rather to just watch them unfold. Despite that, he’d been inclined to say something on this one. Something about the user DearWormwood intrigued him, but he couldn’t place what exactly. He just knew that he’d suddenly gotten the urge to try and talk to them.

Mika noted his five minutes were pretty much up, and was about to put his phone away when it suddenly buzzed in his hand. Looking down, he noticed a new chat had opened: a private one.

[Private Chat: DearWormwood [DW]]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

[06.50]  
DW: so  
DW: you believe in urban legends and mysteries and all that  
DW: wanna hear some more?

Mika could only blink in surprise. This was the last thing he had expected. Still, this only piqued his interest in the enigmatic user more. He was about to reply, when suddenly a shout cut through the air.

“Kagehira, put your phone away!”

Time was up. Mika desperately wanted to carry on talking with DW, but Shu’s imposing presence had overridden any urges. Shu, and Valkyrie, took precedent over a random student on the School SMS, no matter how interesting they were. Still, he quickly sent off a message before hastily turning off his phone and wearily picking himself up.

“Comin’, Oshi-san!”

SE: Sorry, I’m busy right now. Can you wait until break? I’d love to talk then.

\---

Practice had finished at around eight-fifteen, only a quarter of an hour before school started. Mika had insisted he would be fine with skipping first period in order to perfect the performance with Shu, but the other boy had scoffed, clearly frustrated from the many mistakes Mika had made.

“Go to lesson, you can’t help me anymore. I have no option but to spend my time rewriting some parts of the live where you’re messing up,” Shu instructed, and, not one to try and disappoint Shu any more than he already had, Mika obliged.

Fifteen or so minutes later, he found himself lying face down over his desk, trying to rest up before lessons began. It was the coolest it had been in a week or so, and from his seat by the window, Mika could look out and see the warm hues of autumn leaves across the school grounds. There was a certain sleepiness pervading in the classroom, as the heat of summer had winded down and the onset of winter could be seen on the horizon. Mika could hear the quiet murmurs of the other two members of 2-B who had arrived before him: Ritsu Sakuma and Mao Isara. He knew they were childhood friends - though he had a feeling there were something more between them - so they had probably arrived to school together. 

Mika was fairly sure he’d seen a notice on the school network about how idol course students would finish at around half-two today, an hour earlier than usual, due to an A1 live taking place in the theatre that evening. Mika looked forward to the prospect of getting a couple more hours to relax before he had to go to his part-time job at the bakery, after which he had another shift at the convenience store, before he could finally get back to the house at eight. That left him just enough time to wash and change clothes, before heading to the club Valkyrie were performing at. 

Lost in his mental time-planning, Mika failed to notice the cheerful student who’d just entered the room, and who had made an instant beeline for Mika’s desk. They looked down mischievously at the resting boy who had still to notice them, before reaching down and grasping his shoulder. Mika jerked up in surprise, turning to see who his assailant was.

“Naru-chan, don’t scare me like that! You’ll give me heart palpatations, yanno?” Naru-chan - Arashi Narukami - laughed loudly at Mika’s admonishment.

“Mika-chan, I just wanted to make sure you’re not caught asleep during homeroom. That won’t do you any favours with Satori-sensei,” Arashi teased.

“Oh, really? Sorry for shoutin’ at ya, then, Naru-chan,” Mika replied, abashedly. Arashi shook his head and sighed.

“You’re way too gullible, huh, Mika-chan? But that’s what makes you so adorable!” Mika was about to object, but Arashi continued before he had the chance. “What were you so caught up thinking about, anyway?”

“Well, ‘m just plannin’ my day, ‘cause I’m pretty busy. Oshi-san’s planned a live at one of the clubs in town, plus I’ve got two jobs to work today, so…” He trailed off, realising it was likely that Arashi wouldn’t really be that interested in the small details. The blonde boy smiled widely.

“Ah, so hardworking, Mika-chan. I love it. Hmm, but don’t overwork yourself. I don’t want you missing school, since I wouldn’t be able to see your face then, alright?” Despite his light tone, Arashi’s expression was somewhat serious. It was clear he genuinely didn’t want Mika to burn himself out.

“Thanks for th’ concern, Naru-chan. I’ll make sure not to,” Mika reassured him. Arashi was about to say something else, but just then their homeroom teacher, Satori-sensei, walked into the room. He had old, wispy white hair that lay perched on his wrinkled and liver-spotted head. Satori-sensei didn’t teach any of their other subjects, instead spending most of his day in the Regular Course teaching Japanese. Even there, most students didn’t pay him much attention. While he’d once been an imposing presence in the classroom, age had withered him to a mere shadow. There was even a sustained betting pool among the Regular Course students on whether he would retire, or drop dead first. Mika had seen memos on the School SMS about it.

Satori-sensei began by taking register, even though it was easy to see that everyone in their small class was present. After that, homeroom soon ended and Satori-sensei shuffled out the room at the same slow pace he’d entered it with. Today was one of “normal” school days, so there wouldn’t be any special idol-catered lessons today. Instead, Mika was fairly sure he had double English, followed by Japanese History and then Mathematics. Then it would be lunch break, and then _finally_ one last lesson after that before the end of the school day.

As the thought of break crossed his mind, Mika suddenly remembered the message he’d sent to DW earlier. Between the live practice and timetabling his day, the mysterious conversation he’d had with the user had been pushed to the back of his mind. With nothing else interesting to distract him during the morning, Mika kept mulling over the situation. Why had he replied to that public memo, when he never had before? What about DW had compelled him? And most importantly, why did DW contact him separately, instead of just replying to the public memo? Mika had always been attracted to the supernatural, so he supposed that answered the first question, but the other two remained mysteries.

The day felt like it dragged on far longer than it actually was, but eventually Mathematics ended, and with the dismissal from Kokone-sensei, lunch break began. Ritsu and Mao stayed in the classroom, Mao pulling out lunches he’d made for the both of them, while Ritsu slept lazily on the desk. Meanwhile, the two other members of 2-B, Yuzuru Fushimi and Koga Oogami, left the classroom, most likely to find the other members of Fine and UNDEAD respectively. Mika expected Arashi to come sit with him; however the blue-eyed boy shook his head sadly when he approached Mika’s desk.

“Sorry, Mika-chan…Knights is taking part in the A1 this evening, so I’ve got practice scheduled for this break. If it were up to me, I’d just skip, but Izumi-chan can be so forceful, you know?” That was right, Mika recalled seeing that the A1 was a joint performance from Knights and Fine, which meant Yuzuru had probably gone to practice as well. Normally, Mika would be disappointed to be left alone during break, but today was different. He had something else to distract him.

“Don’t worry about it, Naru-chan. I’ll see ya tomorrow.” With a final goodbye, Arashi left the room, but not before stealing the sleeping Ritsu from Mao. Now alone and with at least a good hour or so before the final lesson of the day, Mika took out his phone, his insides buzzing with anticipation to finally be able to talk with DW. As he opened up the school network, he was surprised to find some new messages from DW already there.

[Private Chat: DearWormwood [DW]]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

DW: alrighty  
DW: see you then

[11.56]  
DW: yo  
DW: its lunch break now  
DW: at least for me  
DW: i mean tanaka-sensei did leave the lesson a bit early i guess  
DW: sunshine  
DW: cmon its actually properly lunch now where you at  
DW: dont leave me hanging like this  
DW: whats your name by the way?  
DW: ive already figured out youre almost 99% definitely in the idol course  
DW: which shortens the list a bit  
DW: youre probably a second year  
DW: probably in 2b as well but i cant be sure  
SE: How did you work all that out!?  
DW: woah hello nice to see you too  
SE: Oh. I’m sorry!  
SE: Hello. How are you?  
DW: good  
DW: as for your question  
DW: well in that group memo you mentioned a ‘naru-chan’ right?  
SE: Yeah…  
DW: well thats gotta be arashi narukami right?  
DW: the effeminate guy in the idol course  
DW: and considering you called him ‘chan’  
DW: youre pretty close  
DW: so youre more than likely a second year in the idol course  
DW: basic logic  
SE: Wow, that’s smart! You’re right, I am.  
SE: My name is Mika Kagehira. Nice to meet you.  
DW: oh yeah  
DW: the funny eyed kid  
SE: Um, yeah…  
DW: you ever heard of stranger danger mika?  
SE: Eh? But aren’t you a student too, if you’re on the School SMS?  
DW: might be  
DW: or maybe im some kinda elite hax0r who broke into the school network  
DW: maybe im even like a 40 year old idol-otaku who wants to prey on young teenage idols  
SE: What!?  
DW: im joking my dude  
DW: i am a student  
DW: im also not a 40 year old otaku  
DW: but instead a handsome and stunning 17 year old  
SE: I still don’t think I can trust what you say though. How can you prove you’re not lying?  
DW: uh  
DW: well i cant provide any evidence per say  
DW: but look at it this way  
DW: you’ve seen the sysadm message at the start of every memo or chat or w/e right?  
SE: Yes.  
DW: well if i was lying  
DW: and i was actually some 40 year old pervert  
DW: i wouldn’t reveal that so easily on a monitored chat would i?  
SE: Yeah, I guess so.  
SE: Okay, I believe you then.  
SE: What’s your name?  
DW: call me wormwood  
SE: That’s an unusual name! Are you foreign?  
DW: its not real  
DW: id like to keep my real name secret  
SE: Why?  
DW: eh well  
DW: i just do  
SE: Hmm…Okay then.  
SE: So, what was it you wanted to tell me about? Regarding the Seven Yumenosaki Mysteries, I mean.  
DW: getting right into the thick of it eh  
DW: i like your style  
DW: right anyway  
DW: remember how i teased that first year about ghosts and stuff in the school?  
SE: I do! That was pretty mean spirited of you.  
DW: dont hate  
DW: so most of it was fake ill admit that  
DW: basically all of it actually  
DW: but  
DW: there is a bit of truth  
DW: do you want to know what that is?  
SE: I do!  
DW: someone did die at this school  
SE: Woah! Really? That’s terrible…  
SE: I don’t remember the school history saying anything about someone dying, or anyone ever mentioning it either.  
DW: yeah  
DW: well thats because no one remembers it  
DW: and those that do pretend they dont  
SE: What do you mean?  
DW: figure it out for yourself  
DW: the point is  
DW: at the time  
DW: it was called a suicide  
DW: but thats a lie  
DW: it was murder  
SE: Um…this is a little scary, you know?  
SE: Are you implying Yumenosaki covered up the murder of someone at the school?  
SE: And if you are, then how come you know all this, if no-one else does?

There was a distinct pause between Mika’s question and Wormwood’s reply. Mika’s eyes were glued to screen, phone grasped so tightly that the black plastic case creaked a little. An eternity seemed to pass, until suddenly a new chat window popped up, and three short messages appeared. 

[Private Chat: DearWormwood [DW]]  
[SysAdm: ERROR]

[12.27]  
DW: well mika  
DW: thats because  
DW: im the student who was murdered

\---

It was because of these complaints that Yumenosaki tried so hard to emphasise the presence of its other courses, most particularly the Regular Course, which for all intents and purposes, was made to run exactly as a normal high-school would. Or at least, that was how it was advertised. Yet no matter how much the angle was pushed, the story written and the spotlight moved, idols were, and always would be, Yumenosaki’s ‘gods’. 

So great was this desire to protect the Yumenosaki’s idol legacy that a ‘certain incident’ would be covered up: gently pushed to the side and ignored. Left to rot, and fester, and decay.

From that rot, maggots would spill, silently enveloping the ‘shining beacon’ with squalor and filth.


	2. Bitter Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _‘Even now you mark my steps_   
>  _Lovely bitter water_   
>  _All the days of our delights are poison in my veins’_

Wormwood hadn’t replied after that. Not for lack of trying on Mika’s end: he’d sent at least a dozen messages questioning the other user, gradually going from inquisitive to downright desperate. Even when it became clear that Wormwood had no intention of answering any of Mika’s messages, he kept the chat window open on his phone, still holding on to some kind of hope that the mysterious user would send another joking message, revealing the whole thing as a big tease just to freak Mika out. If that had been his aim, he’d definitely succeeded.

There was a cold sweat on Mika’s brow, and he swallowed thickly. It had already been quiet in the classroom, with only him and Mao present, but the low din of shouting voices and rustling autumn leaves from outside the window had stopped any uncomfortable silence. Now though, Mika could hear nothing of the rest of the world. It was just him, his ragged breathing, and Wormwood’s three innocuous messages. Perhaps it was silly to get so worked up about it: after all, Wormwood could easily be lying, and he could easily have just had to go offline, which was why he hadn’t replied. But there was a feeling in Mika, a dread which struck both his mind and heart, which told him neither of those were the truth. And Mika didn’t know what to do.

That was the crux of it. He didn’t know, just like he never knew how to deal with stressful situations. He wanted someone to help him, someone to hide behind, to fix things for him, to tell him it wasn’t worth worrying about. But there was no-one. Shu was busy altering their live, Arashi was occupied practising with Knights, and Mika’s family - his parents and sisters - were miles away in Osaka. Mika found himself wishing beyond words that he had remembered to pick up that bag of sweets from the house that morning. If there was ever a time he wanted to stress eat, it was now.

A shrill piercing sound rang, making Mika jump, startled by the sudden noise. His mind immediately jumped to ghosts, picturing the translucent body of a dead man flying through the halls, chains rattling and guts trailing behind him. As rapidly as the image had come, it went, and Mika realised the sound was just the bell, signalling the end of lunch break. 

Mika almost laughed at his jumpiness. He was getting way too worked up, and he had a lesson to pay attention to now. Resolving to stop being so tightly wrung, he put his phone away. It felt satisfying, like he was putting all the problems away with it. But even so, as he settled down ready for the lesson, uneasiness planted itself deep within his stomach, persisting no matter how much he tried to ignore it.

The teacher, whose name escaped Mika, entered the room shortly after Mika’s other classmates. The only exception was Koga, who sauntered in five minutes later, and received a cold telling off from the teacher for his tardiness, quickly deflating his confident posture. The lesson turned out to be Classic Lit., but Mika found he just couldn’t pay attention. His thoughts kept returning to Wormwood, and the mystery surrounding him. He’d look up at the board, only to find a whole new set of notes he’d completely missed, leading him to frantically try to scribble at least something down before they got wiped off. He noticed, at one point, that Arashi kept giving him curious side-glances the times where Mika seemed to suddenly spring into action, furiously writing. 

When the end of the lesson finally came, Mika took a minute to look over his notes. What he saw was a complete mess of disjointed comments, in handwriting that even teachers who’d faced the worst that student’s handwriting had to offer would have trouble reading. Mika sighed deeply, and made a mental note to ask Arashi if he could get a copy of his notes at some point in the future. For now, he didn’t have the opportunity, as the other boy left the room to head for the theatre. Besides, Mika had a part-time job to go to anyway. 

Quickly pushing his things back into his bag, Mika could feel a headache coming on.

\---

Work at the bakery turned out to be hardly any better than school. There was a little more to occupy him then during lessons, though, having to deal with customers as well as making sure fresh batches were brought to the store front regularly. The store was one of the more popular in town; attracting a good enough amount of business to mean Mika was pretty much always busy, even during later evening shifts. It was still early afternoon, so most people dropping by were either house-mothers picking up supplies for tomorrow, or workers on a late lunch break who dropped in the pick up something quick and easy. 

There were also students from Yumenosaki who stopped by from time to time. Mika was always most nervous to serve them, afraid of being recognised by someone. It wasn’t like he was embarrassed about his job or anything, but the prospect of potentially being approached and made to have a conversation was an intimidating one. The absolute worst case scenario would be one of the scary looking third years: someone like Izumi Sena, who was part of Knights along with Arashi, or Keito Hasumi, the overbearing leader of Akatsuki. Well, no - the absolute worst would be Shu, but that was unlikely to ever happen anytime soon, considering the other member of Valkyrie’s dislike for baked goods - save, of course, for croissants. 

Regardless, today there were only a few students from the other courses who came by. A group of three girls (who belonged to the Music Course, if their discussion was anything to go by) ordered some doughnuts, while a lonely looking first year from the Regular Course bought a bag of cookies. The boy stopped by the bakery often, and based on a conversation he’d been having on his phone one time, Mika guessed the cookies were for his dad, who was sick at home. 

Despite all this, Mika still found himself often distracted and lagging behind on orders, leading to him being chastised by the manager. As during class, in the back of his mind there was still a raging torrent of thoughts and doubts, which fought their way to the front every now and again. When they did, all the insecurities and worries he’d been having about Wormwood, school conspiracies and everything else in-between almost overwhelmed him. Coupled with the headache which, as he had feared, had swiftly developed on the way from school, Mika was surprised to realise that by the end of his shift, he hadn’t made any actual mistakes in orders the entire time. If he’d been feeling any better, he would’ve congratulated himself.

Checking the time on the clock which hung in the staff room, Mika saw that he had a little extra time - about fifteen or so minutes - before he’d need to set off to the convenience store for his next part-time job. Mika supposed that, if he wanted, he could go and arrive there early, but instead he decided to use to time to sit down a little while, and hope the headache got better, at least a little. Saying goodbye to his co-workers, Mika exited the bakery. Looking around, he located a bench a little further down street, appealingly well-shaded under a golden-leafed tree. Approaching it, he brushed off some of the dead fallen leaves onto the pavement, and gratefully took a seat. 

He automatically reached to take out his phone, but suddenly paused, hand hovering awkwardly midway into his pocket. Mika’s intention had been to browse the School SMS, hoping to read something funny or entertaining to take his mind off things, but the thought of seeing those three messages again stopped him, apprehension clawing up his throat. 

DW: im the student who was murdered

It was almost funny, how one short sentence like that could have such a profound effect on Mika. It had been four or so hours since Wormwood had sent it, yet it still felt Mika had read it only a few seconds ago. Since then, the shade of green it had been written in had taken on a menacing tone in Mika’s head. It reminded him of the kind of sickly colour corpses took on in those horror movies he liked to watch late at night. Appropriate, considering the topic of the message. 

Shaking his head, as if it could clear out all the bad thoughts, Mika took the plunge and extracted his phone. Before he could have any second thoughts, he turned it on, where it opened up to the same page he’d left it on: the School SMS. _That_ chat window was open. Mika minimised it as fast as he could, resulting in him only getting a quick glimpse of green, followed by a flurry of dark red, before he was returned to the front page. 

Unlike that morning, there were now a number of public memos open. He noted that the same one he’d seen earlier, the one where he first encountered Wormwood, was also still up, having not reached the time or post limit yet. Mika decided to ignore it.

Instead, his eyes were drawn to a banner, adorned with a cute image of a chess piece and white feather. Reading the title, Mika realised the memo was for discussing the A1 live occurring later that evening between Knights and Fine. Intrigued in what students had to say, he tapped on the banner.

[Entering Memo: ‘[OFFICIAL A1 DISCUSSION]Fine/Knights: Wataru’s Hair Appreciation Station’]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

[Memo created: 14.32]  
[RunicCircle [RC]entered memo]  
RC: Where are my fellow Fine fans at?  
[PurgaTorio [PT] entered memo]  
[LaughingwithYou [LY] entered memo]  
PT: yooooooo  
PT: nice memo name btw XD  
RC: Thank you, my friend  
LY: Wataru with his hair up.  
RC: Oh my  
LY: Wataru with pigtails.  
PT: i like how you think XD  
LY: Wataru with braids.  
RC: Perfection  
[KittyKat [KK] entered memo]  
KK: nice concept but consider the following:  
KK: wataru already HAS a braid  
KK: like do none of you fangirls even look at the guy youre oodling  
PT: flamer gtfo!  
LY: I’m male.  
RC: Now, now, this is a chat for everyone, and we should respect people’s opinions  
RC: KittyKat does being up a fair point  
RC: Speaking of whom: who is your favourite member of Fine, KittyKat?  
RC: Personally, I am a fan of Yuzuru.  
KK: none of them  
KK: fine = boring and overrated  
KK: knights is infinitely better in literally every way  
RC: Leave this memo and take your objectively wrong opinions elsewhere, you absolute heathen  
KK: lol stay mad  
[ **ModeratorThree [MT]** entered chat]  
MT: [This is an automated message] This memo breaks Memo Rules #23: ‘Official A1 discussions should only be posted within two hours before the event starts’  
MT: [This is an automated message] This memo will be locked until further notice. Please contact **SysAdm [SA]** if there is a fault with this action.  
[Memo locked: 14.40]  
[Memo unlocked: 18.00]  
RC: Apologies, my friends. I failed to account for Memo Rule #23. I apologise for my earlier outburst at KittyKat, and I hope we can now partake in non-aggressive, friendly discussion about tonight’s A1  
RC: For those who want a reminder, today’s A1 be a joint live between both Fine and Knights! The theme is ‘The Tempest’, an unofficial continuation of the ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ event earlier this year, which also featured Knights  
PT: omg amnd was the cutest event ever!  
PT: im so excited XD  
LY: Wataru with a man-bun.  
PT: XO id die lol too cute!  
PT: but tori is the cutest XD  
KK: what a loser  
KK: also he ALREADY HAS A BUN how can you idiots not get this  
PT: GTFO!!  
KK: lol no  
KK: also AMND was terrible  
KK: knights was literally the only redeeming part of it  
KK: like why the hell was an event named after AMND taking place by the coast  
KK: has anyone even read the play  
KK: inb4 this one has a desert setting  
RC: While I do not agree with KittyKat’s demeanour, I have to agree that that was rather nonsensical  
RC: But overall, I felt AMND was an enjoyable event all round, once that one mishap was overlooked  
[MarrymeEichi [ME] entered memo]  
ME: hiya  
RC: Greetings!  
PT: haiii  
KK: that name oh god  
ME: KK ive seen you hatin on fine  
ME: just gonna say that knights is complete trash and could never ever hope to reach the refined level that fine is at  
ME: and before you say anything, just look at how outnumbered you are on this memo  
ME: so get lost  
KK: wow look at the internet tough guy over here  
[CheckmateKuma [CK] entered memo]  
CK: KNIGHTS FOR LIFE  
LY: I like both.  
[IzumiismyKink [IK] entered memo]  
ME: i hate knights fans they always have such cringey names  
KK: please take a moment to look at yourself  
CK: KNIGHTS OR I DIE  
IK: I Want Izumi To Step On Me  
CK: SAME  
KK: same  
RC: Uhm…  
[BlowingtheRoofoff [BR] entered memo]  
BR: I just came here to say that you’re all degenerates LOL  
[BlowningtheRoofoff [BR] left memo]  
PT: ik you are gross XP  
RC: This memo is a complete mess. We need to get back on track! Anyone who sends inappropriate or hateful messages will be kicked from now on  
KK: no-fun-allowed over here  
ME: god yeah its just some fun RC  
LY: The rule is good.  
RC: Thank you, LaughingwithYou. KittyKat, MarrymeEichi, you’re both on your last warning  
[SunshineEyes [SE] entered memo]  
KK: go stick your cyalume where the sun dont shine  
[RunicCircle [RC] kicked KittyKat [KK] from the memo]  
RC: Don’t say I didn’t warn you  
PT: 0_0  
ME: finally that idiot is gone  
ME: i hate f****** trolls  
[RunicCircle [RC] kicked MarrymeEichi [ME] from the memo]  
CK: RIP  
RC: SunshineEyes, hello and welcome to the memo!  
RC: Who is your favourite member of Fine or Knights?  
SE: Oh, um, well, if I had to pick, I guess I’d say Narukami-san!  
SE: I think he is very nice to be around.  
PT: be around??? do you know him??????  
CK: I LOVE MY ONEE-CHAN  
RC: I concur with PurgaTorio. Are you familiar with Arashi?  
PT: i bet youre in the idol course omg omg omg :D  
[SunshineEyes [SE] left memo]

This was why Mika didn’t reply to memos often. The risk of making a mistake and accidentally exposing his identity was too high. Wormwood had figured out almost everything from just one off-hand comment, and there were sure to be more people, like the ones in the memo, who would pick-up on those kinds of things. He should just stick to passively reading them, even when people directly asked him things. That said, he would’ve needed to leave the memo soon anyway. His spare time was basically up, and he had to head over to the nearby convenience store to clock in for his shift. 

The foray into the School SMS had distracted him from his headache, but now that that was gone, it had come back in full force. Nevertheless, Mika steeled himself and stood up, only to be overtaken by a sudden wave of vertigo. He waited a moment, hand pressed on his forehead. It didn’t pass entirely, some dizziness still remaining, but it was bearable. Briefly, Mika considered phoning the store and saying he couldn’t make it, the thought of going back to the house and resting on the sofa becoming very appealing. He squashed those thoughts. He needed these part-time jobs to earn money for Valkyrie’s lives, now that there weren’t getting as much funding from the school anymore. 

The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky with blood red and fiery yellow. Slowly, Mika set off down the street, leaves crunching beneath his shoes.

\---

Bright light blared, and Mika only just stopped himself from staggering. Compared to the dim backstage, where the only source of light had been two hanging bulbs which blinked on and off intermittently, the stage lighting was dazzling, and stepping one from the other felt like he had crawled out of the deepest, darkest cave on Earth only to look directly at the sun. Mika blinked rapidly as black spots appeared in his eyesight, and with monumental effort prevented his eyes from tearing up too much. Eventually, he began to be able to make out dark shapes: the audience, expectantly awaiting a performance. Mika suddenly felt a little awkward, used to having a stage curtain to block out the crowd until the actual live began. Presumably, tonight’s venue simply hadn’t had one available; otherwise Shu would’ve insisted on it as well, considering his aversion to crowds. 

Taking a quick peek down to the floor, he saw that he was standing on a blue cross shape, reaffirming that he was in the right position. It was slightly different than what had initially been planned: further back and more hidden, reminiscent of his roles back when Nazuna had been part of Valkyrie, but Shu had explained everything. Since Mika wasn’t up to scratch, he would now be taking a backing role, cutting out his vocal parts and minimising some of the more complex choreography. Meanwhile, Shu would have a more central position - not that he hadn’t already - mixing certain parts of what had been Mika’s role into his. 

A quiet shift at the convenience store had given Mika the chance to try and alleviate the pain in his head, as well as the sudden onset of dizziness. Today had also been a shorter shift than usual, and most of it had been relegated to restocking shelves. It was easy, monotonous work, which helped as well. Despite that, however, his headache hadn’t exactly _gone away_ , as much as it had just been ignored. Once his shift had ended, regulation uniform shirt changed out of, and the walk back to the house begun, the pain had come rushing back. It had felt even worse than it had on the way to the store, now joined with the tell-tale pressure in his stomach reminding Mika that he’d had seldom to eat today. The early practice had meant there hadn’t been time for any breakfast, or any time to make up a lunch. His break had had him distracted by certain other matters, so Mika hadn’t been able to go to the school cafeteria to buy something then, either. 

Several times during the walk back, Mika had been brought to a standstill by dizziness, leaning himself against one of the trees that lined the streets. As a result, it had taken far longer to return to the house than anticipated. When he had finally pushed open the front door, and stumbled inside the carpeted hallway, he found that Shu, who he had expected to find home making last minute adjustments, had already left for the café. With a faint sense of dread, Mika had known that the other boy wouldn’t be particularly happy with Mika’s tardiness. Checking the clock, he had noted that he’d had only ten minutes to get ready if he wanted to make it in enough time to be able to change, as well as go through the new live plans with Shu. 

Dumping his school bag in the hallway, Mika had rushed up the stairs, throwing off his school jacket and shoes on the way down the upstairs hallway. Inside the bedroom, Mika had rummaged through the mess of clothes on the floor, eventually finding some lighter clothes to change into. His choice had been a little unsuited for the colder weather, but Mika was more concerned with finding something that would be quick and easy to get in and out of. 

Finally satisfied, Mika had begun to make his way out of the house. He had paused as he passed by the kitchen doorway, suddenly being reminded of the fact that he was actually really hungry. A look at his phone told him he didn’t have the time to make anything substantial, and even after a year of living there with Shu, Mika was still a little uncomfortable with eating things straight from the Itsuki household fridge, even if he’d been the one to buy some of the stuff in there. Instead, Mika had grabbed the bag of sweets from the kitchen table. They were definitely his, as Shu often pointed out, usually with a distasteful remark about Mika’s eating habits tacked on as well. It wasn’t exactly nutritional food, but Mika could eat them on the way to the café, and besides, he had been craving some sugar since the end of lunch. 

Even jogging the whole way to the café had only just got Mika there in time. The place was a small coffee house, on the fringes of Kaiganmura. The outside was concrete and grey, unappealing to the eye, and the front was adorned by a tacky yellow sign. Honestly speaking, Mika hadn’t known why Shu had even accepted to perform a live here to begin with. It wasn’t exactly an ‘idol’ type of place (although, nowhere in the town could completely not be one, considering the presence of Yumenosaki), and Mika had known Shu to refuse a thousand places like this last year. The money must’ve been really good, if it had managed to sway Shu’s artistic stubbornness when it came to lives. Upon arriving, Mika had rushed in through the back entrance, and very quickly been greeted by a stone-faced Shu, already in full costume.

“What time do you call this, huh?” He’d accused. Mika had grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry, Oshi-san, the shift at the store ran a little later than expected. Busy day, yanno?” That had been a lie, but Shu hadn’t needed to know that, just like he hadn’t needed to know about Mika’s raging headache. Shu had exhaled sharply, but seemed to accept the excuse. 

“Your costume is over there,” he’d said, pointing to a nearby table, on which an intricately detailed steampunk-style outfit rested. Mika still had to admire Shu’s expertise when it came to needlework. Even after a year of practice, he still couldn’t come anywhere near the short-haired boy’s level. 

And now, completely changed and debriefed on tonight’s performance, Mika was onstage, ready to perform their live. Even though it was an unofficial one, effecting neither their standing nor funding levels in Yumenosaki, the two had been preparing for this for just over a month now. Shu refused anything less than perfection. 

A hush ran over the audience as the music began, a single dramatic harpsichord starting the song with a simple melody. Closing his eyes, Mika did his best to run through the moves despite the pain in his head. The violins kicked in, and both he and Shu sprang into action. The starting dance was hardly changed, and Mika had gone through so many times by this point that he switched from one move to the other almost automatically. While he remained stoic-faced on the outside, as Shu had very clearly instructed, on the inside Mika was giddy. All the worry building up through the day, since that first morning encounter with Wormwood, to the shocking conversation during lunch, and finally the mounting fatigue and sickness after school, melted away, as if it had all been for nothing. Everyone was fine. Everything was going _to be_ fine.

And then things began to go wrong. 

It was only a simple step, nothing complex in any shape or form. It just happened that this step made Mika look towards a stage light, just for a single instance. Immediately, Mika was blinded, the light piercing through his eye and right into his skull. He instinctively winced, and stumbled. It wasn’t a massive misstep, something that on any other night, Mika would’ve easily rolled over as if nothing had happened. But today just happened to be the day where he’d already been feeling dizzy coming onto the stage. 

Now, what had been suppressible couldn’t be ignored. Mika’s head pounded, like it was being hit by a ten-ton weight. His mind felt rattled, scattered. Another misstep. Another mistake in the performance. His stomach felt like a gaping hole in his torso, crying out for some kind of sustenance. Mika swayed, barely avoiding falling over entirely. He felt confused, unable to concentrate on anything that was happening, and the music rang shrilly in his ears. He felt-

He felt sick. Oh god, he was going to be sick. On stage. In front of Shu. He was going to ruin the performance, his costume; the one Shu had spent so much time on. Vaguely, he could hear a voice - Shu’s - talking to him, but the words were muffled, like they were speaking through a pillow.

Mika ran off the stage. He could feel something gross and sticky rising up his throat, and he had to get out.

Dashing for a bathroom, he pushed his way into a toilet cubicle and collapsed to his knees over it. Only a beat later, he began to retch, eyes clenching shut. He carried on for a minute which felt like an hour, before finally, Mika wetly coughed and cracked open his eyes, looking at the mess. The vomit was a yellow colour, thin like water, and he vaguely recalled a health class back in middle school. Mika was fairly positive that was what it looked like when you hadn’t eaten anything, just as he hadn’t.

Mika took stock of the full situation. He was in the men’s bathroom in a cheap café, kneeling over a toilet, after having just vomited into it. He was still in full costume, which now would surely be dirtied by the stained floor. He’d just ran off the stage in the middle of a live performance, one Valkyrie had been working on a weeks. News that he’d flunked a live would spread around the school quickly, as it always did, and that would have a knock-on effect on Valkyrie’s reputation. Shu would but fully aware of that as well. And finally, to top it all off, his head _still_ ached.

Mika swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, wiping away the remaining bile. Removing himself from his position crouched over the toilet, he took the courtesy to at least flush it. Next, Mika reached over and slid the door lock across, shutting himself in. Sliding down the cubicle wall to sit leaning against it, he cradled his head in his hands and groaned.

Mika needed to sort himself out before Shu inevitably came looking for him. He needed to go ahead and deal with the start of all of today’s problems.

He needed to talk to Wormwood again.


	3. There Beneath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _‘There beneath the willow tree_   
>  _I learned a lot about the way of things’_

[Private Chat: DearWormwood [DW]]  
[SysAdm: ERROR]

[11.21]  
SE: Wormwood, let’s talk.  
SE: I’ve been thinking about…well, a lot of things, to be honest.  
SE: My, uh, reaction yesterday was a little over the top, if that’s the right phrase to use.  
SE: I probably didn’t show myself very respectably. But that said, I think anyone would be shocked to be told they were talking to a ghost!  
SE: Yesterday wasn’t a great day. Not just because of you! There were a whole bunch of things which all sort of piled together into one great-big-really-bad thing.  
SE: Anyway…I’m not at school today. I wanted to go, but Oshi-san insisted I stay at the house, because I got pretty sick and ended up barfing in the middle of a live - not on stage, mind!  
SE: But he wasn’t very happy with me…he started ordering that I need to take better care of myself, since another incident like last night puts Valkyrie at risk, as well as stresses him out and stuff.  
SE: Anyway, Oshi-san is at school currently, so I’m on my own at the house, and…I figure now is a good enough time as any to try and talk properly.  
SE: Hopefully it’s a good time for you as well! I hope I haven’t interrupted anything. Uh, if ghosts have a schedule, that is.  
SE: Gosh, look at me talking to myself…Sorry, I must be being a bother right now.  
DW: ill have you know that ghosts are incredibly busy  
DW: theres only so many hours in the day to haunt with  
DW: and well you know what they say  
DW: the early ghost-bird catches the ghost-worm  
SE: Oh, sorry! I’ll talk to you later, then.  
DW: mika  
DW: im joking  
DW: im free right now  
SE: Excellent!  
SE: Haha, it feels a bit strange to see you call me by my actual name.  
DW: well is calling you sunshine any better?  
SE: No, not really. Naru-chan is the one who set this name, and I still can’t figure out how to change it to something else. If it were up to me, I’d like something cooler!  
DW: cooler  
DW: like what  
SE: Uh, well, I haven’t thought of anything specific.  
DW: how about deathripper  
DW: bloodapocolyse  
DW: nailgrinder  
SE: They seem a little gory…  
DW: yeah gory is cool  
SE: Is it?  
DW: totally  
DW: see when youre down with the kids like i am you pick up this kinda stuff  
SE: I see. Maybe I should try talking to people in the regular course, then. Everyone in the idol course is a little bit…  
DW: insane  
SE: Eccentric  
DW: eh tomato tomato  
SE: What does that mean?  
DW: tomato tomato  
SE: Why are you repeating words like that?  
DW: it means two things that are similar keep up  
SE: But those words are exactly the same.  
DW: no theyre not  
DW: tomato you say like tomato  
DW: whereas tomato you say like tomato  
SE: I don’t get it…  
SE: Is this another joke?  
DW: sorta  
DW: how about we just leave it at that  
DW: lets get down to business  
SE: That is probably a good idea.  
DW: to defeat  
DW: the huns  
SE: What?  
DW: nevermind  
DW: what do you wanna talk about?  
DW: aside from  
DW: whatever the fuck we just talked about there  
SE: Hey, the word filter didn’t apply!  
DW: the filter is for babies  
DW: i disabled it for this specific chat  
SE: Is that why the SysAdm is showing an error message?  
DW: its part of it  
DW: this chat is one i made specially so it cant be monitored by the school  
DW: i mean theres some sensitive stuff being talked about  
DW: we dont want people peeking in at it  
SE: You can do that?  
DW: well i can  
DW: dunno about anyone else  
SE: That’s pretty amazing!  
DW: youre making me blush mika  
DW: also im wondering  
DW: who is the ‘oshi-san’ dude you keep talking about  
DW: he sounds like a swell fella  
DW: thats sarcasm by the way  
SE: He’s the leader of my unit, Valkryie! His name is Shu Itsuki. He lets me live at his house, because I’m from Osaka, so it’s bit far to commute everyday…  
DW: sweet osaka represent  
SE: Why was that sarcasm?  
DW: because  
DW: he sounds like an asshole  
DW: i mean what guys first reaction to their friend being sick is to get angry  
DW: unless you barfed all over him or something  
SE: I didn’t. That would’ve been an even bigger disaster!  
SE: Also, it wasn’t like that. You weren’t there.  
DW: youve got me there  
DW: whatever  
DW: idol drama is none of my business  
DW: what is my business is getting on to the actual point of this conversation in the first place  
DW: like we planned to

Mika looked from his phone, reaching behind him and adjusting the position of the pillows he rested on.

The bedroom Shu had given him to stay in was a guest one, a little smaller than the others in the house. It had been incredibly plain looking, with boring blue wallpaper, neutral grey carpeting and the bare minimum in terms of furniture. With Shu’s permission, Mika had decided to spruce it up a little. Now, what were once barren walls were adorned with various posters. Above the desk rested the prize point of the room: a large circle shaped mirror, sat in a carved baroque-style wooden frame, gold paint slightly chipped on the edges. Mika had found the mirror by chance. He’d passed by a small second-hand furniture store, and the mirror had caught his eye. It had pretty much been love at first sight, and after saving up a portion of his wages for a couple of weeks, he’d been able to afford it.

Now sitting comfortably once more, Mika turned his focus back to the online conversation he was currently having. The plan had been to contact Wormwood yesterday night, but Mika had backed down at the last second, sudden nerves as well as tiredness overcoming him. Even though he was resolute in his decision to talk to Wormwood, it had still taken most of the morning for him to work up to the point where he was finally ready, until finally, he’d taken the plunge.

The resulting conversation was certainly different from what he’d imagined, to say the least. Wormwood retained that friendly, conversational tone he’d had yesterday morning, as if what he’d told Mika was as commonplace as mentioning the weather. Additionally, Mika hadn’t planned on spilling everything he had at the start. He’d begun how he wanted, keeping his tone serious, but when Wormwood didn’t immediately reply, everything else on his mind had just started spilling out.

Still, it’d all seemed to work out. Wormwood was willing to listen to what he had to ask, as well as respond in kind, which was more than Mika had been anticipating after being blanked by the other user yesterday.

Mika’s phone let out a ping, alerting him to another message:

DW: yo  
DW: you still there  
SE: Yes, I am. I’m just thinking about things, sorry.  
DW: what things  
DW: reveal all my child  
DW: trust me im a doctor  
SE: You are?  
DW: no  
SE: I’m actually thinking about the best way to approach the thing I actually wanted to say in the first place!  
SE: I didn’t expect this conversation to be as friendly as it is, so it’s thrown my original plans in a bit of a loop.  
DW: ive got a tip  
DW: just do it  
DW: dont let your dreams be dreams  
DW: etc  
SE: That’s surprisingly inspiring!  
SE: It’s just, I’ve been really bothered by our last conversation.  
SE: I want to know why you contacted me specifically, and why you would tell me…that stuff.  
SE: And I want to know if you’re telling the truth.  
SE: Are you actually a ghost?  
DW: what do you think  
SE: Huh?  
DW: do you think im a ghost or a person  
SE: I don’t know what to think. That’s why I’m asking you.  
DW: you believe in ghosts right  
DW: then whats making you doubt me?  
SE: I guess I’m half-and-half on the matter. On one hand, I guess I do believe in ghosts, and that you told me the truth. On the other hand, the more logical part of me is telling me ghosts can’t be real, and that you’re an actual person…  
SE: So I’m stuck between them. I just want to know the truth.  
DW: truth huh  
DW: the truth is  
DW: it doesnt really matter if im a ghost or not  
DW: so believe what you want  
DW: i could be one or the other or both at the same time  
SE: Doesn’t matter? I think it matters a lot!  
DW: not really  
SE: How do you figure that, then?  
DW: hm  
DW: ok well  
DW: lets compare my existence to a box  
SE: A box?  
DW: work with me here  
DW: yes a box  
DW: a closed one specifically  
DW: right now as it is you cant interact with the box at all  
DW: on the outside of the box is me  
DW: that is  
DW: dearwormwood  
DW: the user talking to you now  
DW: its me and all the conversations you have with me  
DW: the font and the colour im writing in  
DW: basically everything of my existence that youre personally aware of  
DW: and that you can observe  
DW: keeping up?  
SE: I think so. I don’t really understand where you’re going with this though.  
DW: let me continue  
DW: on the inside of the box is the truth youre asking for  
DW: ie the actual ‘me’  
DW: which is distinctly separate from dearwormwood aka the outside  
SE: How does that work…?  
DW: it just does  
DW: right so for the sake of this metaphor lets say inside the box can be one of two states  
DW: ‘me’ as a ghost  
DW: or ‘me’ as an actual living breathing person  
DW: one or the other  
DW: but the box is closed  
DW: you cant see it or touch it or shake it or anything  
DW: there is no way for you to even get a hint on which of the two is inside  
DW: so if thats the case  
DW: whats on the inside?  
SE: Uh, didn’t you just tell me?  
DW: no i mean  
DW: which of the two is it  
DW: a ghost or a person  
SE: How can I answer that? You just said there’s no way to tell!  
DW: exactly  
SE: I’m lost…  
DW: the only reality you can be sure of is the one you can perceive yourself  
DW: so if you cant perceive something  
DW: you cant know what the truth is for sure  
DW: but at the same time you cant say what the truth isn’t  
DW: since there is no ‘truth’ with which to prove something ‘false’  
DW: so the truth can be whatever you want it to be  
DW: in this scenario absence of evidence holds as much weight as evidence itself  
DW: so either answer would be correct because theres no way to prove that isnt the truth  
SE: That’s really confusing.  
DW: hell yeah it is  
DW: but do you understand what i mean now when i say my identity doesnt matter  
SE: You’re trying to say that I can believe in either, and as long as I think it’s the truth, then it is the truth as far as I’m aware.  
SE: And that’s because there is no evidence to prove it either way, or something like that? Sorry, I don’t really get it at all.  
DW: dont worry thats close enough  
DW: i mean that is pretty much word for word what i said to begin with  
DW: but hey at least were on the same page now  
SE: Okay, so if your identity doesn’t matter, then what does?  
SE: What do you want from me?  
DW: who says i want anything  
DW: youre fun to talk to  
DW: isnt that enough?  
SE: Oh, I suppose so…But it feels a little anti-climatic, after that big reveal.  
DW: thats down to you though  
DW: this whole time youve been wanting to know my motives  
DW: but i wanna know yours  
DW: give me a peek inside your noggin  
SE: My motives?  
SE: I haven’t really thought about that…  
DW: well nows the time  
DW: what do you want mika  
DW: what answers would make you happy  
SE: I

That was a good question, and one Mika hadn’t thought about in much depth. What did he want from this conversation? He knew he wanted to have it, and he knew he wanted to solve the issues he’d been having, since a repeat of yesterday was not desired. But, when it came to figuring out what exactly would put his mind at rest, Mika drew a blank.

Ideally, he supposed, Wormwood would’ve told Mika yesterday had been a massive joke, some kind of prank just to disturb an unaware Mika. But that didn’t seem to be the case. Rather, Wormwood was pushing the idea that they some kind of ghost haunting him to new heights. This elaborate box metaphor was beyond confusing for Mika. How could Mika’s own personal beliefs decide what the truth was? He wasn’t some kind of magical reality changing being, nor was he any sort of God. The easy route would be to just accept what Wormwood was saying without question, but…

Mika didn’t want that, he suddenly realised. He didn’t want some kind of vague reassurance regarding Wormwood’s identity. He wanted - no, _needed_ , to know.

Who was Wormwood? What was their link to Yumenosaki? Why did they contact Mika, of all people? Knowing Wormwood’s identity was intrinsic to all three of those questions.

Mika had his answer.

SE: I think I understand the idea behind your box metaphor.  
SE: But…I don’t think I agree with it!  
SE: You’re telling me who you are doesn’t matter, but that’s seems stupid to me.  
SE: If you’re also telling me you were a student who was murdered, then your identity is integral to that!  
SE: Plus, you’re revealing to me that there is something corrupt with Yumenosaki as a whole, and surely finding that out is important as well.  
SE: And to that extent, if you’re claiming to be the victim of a murder which the school covered up, then, again, what’s inside that box becomes really important!  
SE: So I guess…  
SE: I want to open the box!  
SE: I want to know what’s inside, and I want to know what the truth is, and what that means.  
SE: Even if you say it’s currently impossible, that can change! If a lack of evidence is stopping it being opened, then I just have to find that evidence.  
DW: well  
DW: that was a reply worth waiting for  
DW: im impressed  
DW: so  
DW: if what youve just shown me is your definite resolve  
DW: then i dont want to stop you  
DW: and i wont  
SE: You won’t? Even if you’re the one who’s so insistent it doesn’t matter?  
DW: yep  
DW: what i want is irrelevant here honestly  
DW: i cant do a thing beyond what i am doing right now  
DW: my position doesnt give me the capability  
DW: this mystery is entirely in your hands  
DW: its yours to solve if you want to  
DW: and its yours to ignore if you want to do that instead  
DW: ill go along with whatever you decide  
SE: You will?  
DW: to a degree  
DW: its no fun if i just tell you everything  
DW: assuming you decide you want to try to solve it  
DW: but ill give some hints  
SE: Like what?  
DW: uhh  
DW: how about this to start  
DW: if you want some advice or whatever about something  
DW: i wont lie directly to you  
DW: not that i have  
DW: so you can trust whatever i say  
DW: and if you get really stuck i suppose ill think of something to help then  
DW: aside from that  
DW: i dunno just ask me and ill see if i wanna help  
SE: That is a lot more co-operative than I was expecting.  
DW: what can i say  
DW: im just the kinda person who cant resist a cute face  
SE: Uh!?  
DW: see you around mika  
DW: and good luck  
DW: youll need it

A message came up, indicating Wormwood was now offline. Mika turned off his own phone, placing it on the bedside table. Heavily, he leaned back into his pillows, churning over that last three-quarters of an hour he’d spent talking to Wormwood. That had certainly been an enlightening talk, at least for Mika.

He’d said all those grand statements to Wormwood, about opening boxes and solving mysteries, and he did mean it. He could feel that burning desire for answers bubbling beneath his skin. But even so, there was a pervading doubt in Mika’s mind. How did someone like him even go about solving a mystery to begin with? He wasn’t particularly smart at riddles or puzzles and things like that, nor was he the kind of person who could snoop around school records without being caught. In fact, Mika was fairly sure that if he were a character in a detective novel, he would most likely be the murder victim, who foolishly wandered the streets of London alone at night, only to be blindsided and cruelly killed by some dastardly masked killer. People like him didn’t get involved with the real meat of things.

On top of that, there was also the matter of logistics. It was all well and good saying he wanted to discover the truth, but that would take time, and lots of it, probably. He had a busy schedule: between lives, work, school and practices, the only free time he usually could find came on Sundays and late at night, both times where the school would be closed, making investigation almost impossible. If he was really dedicated to the cause, the fact of the matter was that it would mean putting aside other commitments, most likely Valkyrie related ones. That brought its own set of problems. He was already on thin ice with Shu, and shirking off practices wouldn’t put him back into the other boy’s good book. If anything, it was liable to get him chucked out of the house, and then Mika really would be in trouble.

Sighing for what felt like the umpteenth time, Mika glanced over the digital alarm clock on next to his phone on the bedside table. The red blinking numbers told him it was almost one in the afternoon. Maybe something to eat would help him think. Picking up his phone, he slid out of bed and padded over to the door and out of the room. Descending the stairs, Mika found himself in the kitchen, and he noted something peculiar on the countertop. It was a plastic container, the kind you’d pack a lunch in. On top of it rested a note, and picking it up curiously, Mika saw that it was addressed to him.

_‘You’re too thin, so I graciously made you something to eat. It better be gone by the time I’m back. - I’_

Mika smiled. Shu usually complained about Mika’s thinness, but it wasn’t too often he went to the effort of making him food, especially recently. Placing the note to the side, Mika opened the container, peering in at the food inside. He had to admit, even though he wasn’t massively hungry, it did look good. There was nothing incredibly spectacular or revolutionary about the food inside, but it was regimentally sectioned out into various sections and included all the basics: fruit, proteins, carbs and vegetables.

Eagerly picking up the box, Mika moved to the lounge. The room itself wasn’t used all that much, treated more like an extension for Shu’s large workshop the next room over. As a result, there were various materials and half-finished costumes strewn all over the place. Most of the far side of the room was taken up by shelves and display cases, which housed a fraction of Shu’s vast doll collection. Mostly the ones which couldn’t fit in the usual display room or that Shu were currently working on creating a new outfit for in his workshop. The curtains were drawn, casting a low light over the room, which gave the whole place a somewhat eerie feeling.

Shifting over a pile of colourful materials, Mika cleared a seat for himself on the crowded sofa. Once he was sat comfortably settled, he dug into his meal. Mika found himself to be hungrier than he had initially thought, so it didn’t take long to finish. Satisfied with his lunch, Mika dug out his phone from his pocket. His plan was to begin by searching the internet for any reports of crimes or incidents taking place at Yumenosaki, and see if there were any leads there. First, however, he wanted to check up on the School SMS.

Opening the page, Mika was greeted with a new message notification, blinking at the top of his screen. His first thought went to Wormwood: did they forget to mention something else? No, a quick glance to the side of the page showed their username was still greyed out, indicating they were offline. But who else would contact him? Considering Shu never used the SMS, Mika could only think of one other person.

Tapping on the notification, he was greeted with a new chat page, and a blinding pink text colour, confirming his suspicions:

[Private Chat: MrFabulous [MF]]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

[13.15]  
MF: hello Mika-channn~ ｡ﾟ✶ฺ.ヽ(*´∀`*)ﾉ.✶ฺﾟ｡  
MF: I just so happened to notice you were missing from lessons today  
MF: didn’t I tell you I’d be upset if I didn’t get to see your face?? ( ≧Д≦)  
MF: did something happen? ( ;ﾟдﾟ)  
SE: Naru-chan!  
SE: Yes, sorry, I’m off school sick today…  
MF: !! (ὀ⌓ὀ⑅)  
MF: what’s wrong??  
SE: I got a horrible headache last night and I ended up running off stage during Valkyrie’s live to vomit. It was so embarrassing!  
MF: omg are you ok?  
SE: I am now, thanks.  
MF: I told you not to overwork yourself (๑･`▱´･๑)  
MF: you should listen to me more often hmmmm~~?  
SE: Sorry! I guess I did have a lot of work yesterday.  
MF: don’t apologize for being sick Mika-chan  
MF: just try to stop it happening again (*^▽^*)  
SE: I’ll try. Yesterday was a bit of an anomaly though. I’m used to that level of work, but I was super stressed out because of another thing, which just made things worse.  
SE: I’ve sorted that out though!  
MF: good (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و  
MF: what was the other thing?  
SE: Oh, well…  
SE: It doesn’t really matter. It was pretty stupid, honestly!  
MF: if it worried you to the point where you were sick, I don’t think it could be that ‘stupid’ Mika-chan ヾ( ･`⌓´･)ﾉﾞ  
SE: It was! You know me, I get worried at the smallest things…  
SE: Anyway, like I said, it’s sorted now.  
MF: if you insist…  
MF: so what is my favourite person up to on their day off school~?  
SE: I’m your favourite person?  
MF: one of them!  
MF: however my all-time favourite  
SE: Yes?  
MF: is me~~~!!! ✿♬ﾟ+.(｡◡‿◡)♪.+ﾟ♬✿。  
SE: That face is ridiculous.  
MF:（＊〇□〇）……！  
SE: I’m only home because Oshi-san insisted, so I’ve just stayed in bed like he said to.  
SE: Though I have just eaten some lunch.  
SE: Oshi-san made me lunch!  
MF: wow  
MF: Itsuki-chan does have a cute side after all~  
SE: He wouldn’t be very happy to see you call him ‘cute’.  
MF: I don’t care (✿´ ꒳ ` )  
MF: so all you’ve done today is sit around and eat?  
MF: that’s so boring ＼(´◓Д◔`)／  
SE: It is! I don’t feel sick at all…  
SE: Oh, that reminds me! Can you please let me copy your notes from today?  
MF: of course  
MF: I’m offended you even have to ask (;｀O´)o  
SE: Thanks, Naru-chan!  
MF: (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡  
MF: whats your plan for the rest of the day?  
MF: more sitting hmhmmm?  
SE: Well, actually, I’m going to be doing some research.  
MF: what for?  
SE: Oh…  
SE: A personal project of mine, I guess.  
MF: sounds interesting~~!  
MF: tell me more

Mika’s stopped. He had been planning on saying no, having no intention of involving anyone else in this mystery. Even if he did, it was likely that Arashi would just laugh at him for believing in something like ghosts to begin with.

But then a thought had popped into his head. He was already well aware of his own weaknesses. Maybe he could tell Arashi? Having someone like him helping would be a massive advantage. It would mean that someone could investigate when he was busy, and on top of that, Arashi seemed like the kind of person who would easily be able to find any clues within the student body. Mika wasn’t particularly good at talking to people he didn’t know, so a social butterfly like the Knights member would be a lifesaver.

And even if Arashi did laugh at him at first, would he actually disagree to help? Mika had known Arashi since the beginning of his time at Yumenosaki, when he had immediately latched onto Mika, who in turn had found Arashi far easier to talk to when compared with the other people in the idol course. When push came to shove, Mika trusted him.

Confidence growing the more he considered the idea, Mika realised that if he was going to try and bring Arashi in on the investigation, he’d probably want proof of Wormwood. Likewise, Mika didn’t know if Wormwood wanted other people involved or not.

As luck would have it, Mika saw that Wormwood had come back online. Before he reconsidered, Mika sent off a quick reply to Arashi, before opening the chat with Wormwood once more.

SE: Okay. Just give me a couple minutes though.  
MF: I can wait forever~~ (*´・ｖ・)

[Private Chat: DearWormwood [DW]]  
[SysAdm: ERROR]

[13.29]  
SE: Sorry to contact you again so soon!  
SE: I have a really important request though.  
DW: woah do you already need a hint  
DW: no brakes on this mystery train huh  
DW: whats up  
SE: I don’t need a hint, but I want to ask a favour.  
DW: shoot  
SE: Is it alright if someone else is involved with solving this mystery?  
DW: someone else huh  
DW: who  
SE: Naru-chan!  
SE: Uh, sorry, Arashi Narukami.  
DW: well  
DW: if youre sure about it then i don’t have any issues  
DW: like i told you this thing is yours to solve how you want  
DW: but if you are let me set something up  
SE: What?  
DW: private group chat  
DW: ill need his username  
SE: It’s ‘MrFabulous’.  
DW: typical  
DW: ok tell me when you want this starting  
DW: all ill say is don’t reveal anything incriminating on the chat you have with him  
DW: remember its monitored by the school  
SE: You can open it right now!  
SE: It’ll probably be better if you’re there to help me explain things.  
DW: alrighty

[Private Memo: ‘oh shit scooby looks like weve got a mystery on our hands’]  
[Invited Participants: DearWormwood [DW], SunshineEyes [SE], MrFabulous [MF]]  
[SysAdm: ERROR]

[Memo Created: 13.33]  
DW: welcome to the metaphorical think-tank of bullshit riddles and contrived mysteries  
DW: i am your host for tonight  
DW: general question-chaps  
MF: what is this????? Σ(ﾟﾛ､ﾟ;)  
SE: Naru-chan, this is the project I’m working on.  
SE: Well, it’s not the exact project, but, uh…  
SE: How do I explain this…?  
DW: allow me  
DW: hello i am wormwood and i am also dead  
DW: mika here is figuring out the how and why  
SE: That’s a highly abridged version, but yes, essentially.  
MF: wow (๑°o°๑)  
MF: I don’t really know what to say  
MF: you do know ghosts don’t exist, right Mika-chan? (;¬_¬)  
SE: I do! Logically, anyway.  
SE: But as you can see, DearWormwood is a real thing. That can’t be denied.  
MF: ok  
MF: but they could be lying about being a ghost (ノ◇≦。)  
DW: rude  
DW: i never lie  
SE: That’s true! They’ve promised me that they’ve never lied.  
MF: and you believe them?  
SE: I don’t see why I shouldn’t.  
MF: aside from the fact that ghosts don’t exist  
SE: Even so, there are other parts to this aside from whether or not Wormwood is a ghost.  
SE: Like the fact that Yumenosaki covered up a murder!  
MF: what  
DW: yep theres some big conspiracy shit going on with your school  
MF: ok so let’s say I’m going along with this  
MF: for the sake of convenience  
MF: why did you tell me? Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)  
SE: Because…  
SE: I was hoping you would help me, Naru-chan.  
SE: I’m not any good at this kind of thing, but I really, really want to try to solve it.  
SE: It sounds stupid, but I feel like it’s sort of…  
SE: What I’m meant to do, if that makes any sense.  
SE: But I can’t do it on my own, and Wormwood can only help to a point.  
SE: You’re the only person I’d trust to be able to help.  
SE: So, please, will you?  
MF: oh my god Mika-chan  
MF: I’m gonna cry ｡･ﾟヾ(✦థ ｪ థ)ﾉ｡ﾟ･｡  
MF: you’re so good  
SE: I’m sorry to force this on you…  
MF: I’ll help you Mika-chan  
SE: Really!?  
MF: how can I say no after that~~?  
DW: should i go  
DW: im feeling like a bit of a third wheel right now  
MF: aww Wormy-chan don’t worry  
MF: you’re part of this party as well~ (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧  
DW: wormy-chan  
DW: holy shit  
DW: mika im sorry ive changed my mind  
DW: narukami is banned  
SE: What!? You can’t, after I’ve gone through all that.  
MF: yeah~~~  
MF: you cant get rid of me now o((*^▽^*))o  
MF: wor  
MF: my  
MF: -channnnn~~~~~~  
DW: dear lord please strike me down thank you and amen  
SE: I’m really happy you’re on board, Naru-chan.  
MF: don’t you worry one bit Mika-chan  
MF: together you and me are gonna crack this case wide open~~! (•́⌄•́๑)૭✧


	4. In the Blue Hours of Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the mini-hiatus, and thank you for your patience! School started back up, and combined with moving focus to another personal writing project of mine, Dear Wormwood unfortunately got put to the side. Be assured that I don't plan on having another two months (to the day!) between this chapter and the next.

For a town the size of Kaiganmura, its public library was actually quite big. Previously an abandoned building complex, the place had been renovated in the 1990s into what it was today, as part of a government scheme to try to regenerate interest in the town. Of course, Yumenosaki had been set up shortly after, and the various culture projects organised went forgotten, buried underneath the tidal wave of glamourous show business and a herd of young hopefuls who saw the school as their best chance of ever making it big. Of all the schemes created, the public library was the only one which could be called successful.

The exterior of the building had retained most its previous appearance: plain and drab, constructed in hard concrete and littered with the bare minimum of windows needed to make it inhabitable. The only way one could even tell it was a library came from the brown sign which hung unassumingly above the entrance. The inside was a little more typical to what would be expected of a library: three floors and a basement, lined with bookshelves which extended from the front far into the shadowy backs of rooms. There was a front desk, a small computer lab on the top floor, and a tiny cornered off section for reading groups to use, and that was it.

It was Arashi’s idea for Mika to travel into town, one of the many which had been bounced around following the blond boy’s declaration to help solve the mystery of Wormwood, and the only one which had eventually been agreed to be an overall good idea. The thought was that, if something big had happened at the school, which it had then later tried to cover up, then the best place to find any information about it would be the newspaper archives the library kept stored in their basement. If they could get an idea of just what exactly they were dealing with, then it might make it easier to figure out who Wormwood was. Or, at least, thin down the number of suspects, which as it was, encompassed the entirety of the Japanese population, maybe even beyond. That was the idea, anyway. So, since Mika still had the rest of the day off and Arashi was trapped in a particularly tedious Japanese History lesson, it was decided that he should be the one start the investigation. 

He had initially been reluctant to the idea, keeping a close mind to the fact that Shu had expressly instructed him not to leave the house that day, and the consequences of ignoring that. Mika had protested, but it seemed like they had fallen on deaf ears - or rather, Arashi had just chosen to ignore them. Facing unrepentant insistence from him, Mika decided to let his desire to start looking for clues override his worries about Shu.

After all: in many ways, it was all very exciting for Mika. He felt like some kind of spy, or police detective, carefully snooping around looking for hidden leads of clues which no-one else would spare a second glance at. The town was pretty empty at this time of day as well, with the only people milling around being stay-at-home parents and old folks. As a result, the bus he caught was pretty much empty, and, once Mika reached the library, there was barely anyone else in the building aside from the bored looking receptionist.

A quick question to the receptionist pointed him to the building’s basement. Descending the staircase, he found himself in a long, dark corridor, with only a few flickering ceiling lights illuminating the place. He passed by several doors, until finally he reached one whose placard simply just read ‘Newspaper Room’, followed by a reference number. Twisting the handle and entering, Mika was greeted by lines upon lines of bookshelves, all stacked with green cardboard boxes. Reading the labelling on one of them revealed to him that it contained newspapers from the week beginning 14th September 2012. 

Going deeper into the depths of the room, Mika figured out that the newspapers got older the further back he went, and he soon discovered a couple of problems with his and Arashi’s plan. Firstly, the newspapers only went back as far as 1990s, with any older ones having to be specially requested. Still, there were several thousand that were publically available, which in turn led to Mika’s second conundrum: he had no specific time reference for which to start looking from. Even if he only looked through newspapers since the school’s opening, that was still far too many for one person to search through in the time he had. To help solve that issue was a computer placed on a desk, tucked between two nearby shelves. Using this, he could search the archives using specific keywords, as well as find the exact location of a newspaper in the room.

Sitting down in the uncomfortable plastic chair, Mika deliberated on what words he should search for. He eventually decided to start with the obvious: ‘Wormwood’. Zero hits, which really he should’ve figured. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. What else could he search for, though? Just looking for ‘Yumenosaki’ brought up well over two-thousand articles, which was to be expected. He needed something less broad.

‘Yumenosaki cover up’. Nothing.

‘Yumenosaki murder’. Nada.

‘Yumenosaki idol death’. Zilch.

No matter what he searched for, there wasn’t a single relevant result. After at least twenty attempts with zero returns, Mika shoved the keyboard roughly away from him. This was hopeless! There wasn’t anything he could work with to try to find what he was looking for, unless he began just randomly pulling articles out and hoping for the best. It was a Catch-22 situation: he needed more information about Wormwood to find something useful in the newspapers, but he needed to find something useful in the newspapers to get more information about Wormwood!

Taking a deep breath, Mika pushed himself away from the desk. Clearly, this current angle wasn’t going to achieve anything. He needed to rethink his methods. Was there really no information from Wormwood he could go off? His brow furrowed in concentration, Mika mentally raked over the conversations he’d had so far. From the wall hung a clock, and the metronomic noise of its ticking hands helped to focus his thoughts. With every beat, he could feel himself getting closer and closer to the revelation he was looking for - a piece of information forgotten or overlooked in the madness of the last few hours…

Eyes widening in realisation, Mika reached that eureka moment. That was it! He’d been so caught up with the ‘murder’ aspect of the crime committed, he’d forgotten the whole picture. To anyone other outsider but him, Wormwood and Arashi, it wasn’t a murder at all: it was a suicide! That was one of the very first things Wormwood had told him. 

Newly motivated, Mika dived back at the keyboard, excitedly typing in the new key phrase ‘Yumenosaki suicide’. And just as he hoped, he finally got some worthwhile results. There were five articles, all from within one month of each other and each following the development of what appeared to be the same incident. The one which seemed to be most directly related was the very first, dated from just about half a decade ago. Mika thought that the article headline - ‘Shocking Suicide at Idol School! An Incoming Scandal?’ - was a little tasteless for the subject matter, but nonetheless this was exactly what he’d been looking for. 

The library didn’t store digital scans of articles, so Mika would have to find the physical version. It would presumably be in one of the boxes in the room, but when Mika went to look up a location reference, he paused. While he wasn’t sure of the exact room number he was in, he knew that all basement level rooms began with the moniker ‘BA’. Fitting to that, every newspaper article he’d seen so far had been referenced to either ‘BA1’ or ‘BA2’. Yet this article had neither. In fact, its room reference - ‘CF’- was one which Mika didn’t recognise at all. 

Well, he reasoned to himself, it wasn’t like he came to the public library _that_ often, usually electing to just use the large selection of books the school had instead. It was certainly possible there was another storage area he didn’t know about. Noting down the full reference in a pocket notebook he’d brought with him, Mika turned off the computer and left the newspaper room, having achieved all he could there.

\---

“Whaddaya mean it’s ‘currently unavailable’!?” Mika hadn’t meant to shout, but after trying for so long to find something useful he could use, this final, seemingly insurmountable, roadblock pushed him over the edge. At the receptionist's harsh glare, he’d sheepishly quieted himself, muttering a quick apology.

After having left the archives downstairs, Mika had asked the receptionist where he could find the newspaper he was looking for. She’d seemed eager to help, having finally gotten something to do other than pop bubblegum all day, and amiably searched it up in the database for him. However, while Mika couldn’t see what had been displayed on her computer screen, he had been sure it wasn’t anything good, based on how the young woman’s expression morphed from its previous pleasant moniker to something stern and serious. Eventually, hesitatingly, she’d turned back to Mika, plastered her absolute fakest helpful smile onto her face, and had told him that the article he was looking for ‘currently unavailable’ for reading.

“I’m af- _raid_ ,” she answered him, slowly drawing out the word, “that it means exactly what it sounds like. The article you’re looking for is not available right now.” 

“But..why? When will it be available?” Mika asked, his desperation leaking out into his voice.

“It could be for a number of reasons. Someone else might have it rented out, or it could be going through some kind of reconstruction right now. Papers like these tend to get damaged so easily. Unfortunately, if that is the case, then it’s hard to say when it’ll be available once again. It may be a matter of days, or it could be months.” She sounded genial enough, but Mika couldn’t shake the sense she was hiding something from him. Maybe he was just getting overly paranoid. Whatever her reasons, Mika clearly wasn’t going to get much more out of the receptionist.

“Alright then. Sorry ta’ waste your time. But, uh, could ya’ please look into what's happenin’ to it right now? I _really_ need this newspaper.”

“Certainly. I’ll put a request in,” she said, typing the relevant information into her computer. 

“What do you need this paper for, if you don’t mind me asking?” she asked, looking up through her glasses at him. Surprised by her question, Mika scrambled for an answer that wouldn’t be too suspicious.

“Uh...a school project? Yeah, it’s for a school project I’m doin’. On...the history of the school. Really important, yanno?” Mika winced internally at his stumbling sentence, and while the women dubiously arched one delicate eyebrow, she seemed to accept it as mere teenage awkwardness. 

“If you’re writing a project on Yumenosaki’s history, we have a book on the matter that you might be interested in,” she offered. Mika thought it over for a few seconds. Maybe it would be better to take a more general approach for now, or at least until he could get his hands on the article - if he ever could. He knew Yumenosaki was central to this whole thing, but really, when he thought about it, how much did he actually know about the school? He knew the basics of its beginnings, but nothing about the details. Perhaps something useful _could_ be found by looking into that. 

Nodding to the receptionist, she pointed him over to a corner of the first floor, while also taking down his email so the library could contact him once his request was processed. Thanking her, Mika followed her directions through the tall shelves. This particular area of the library was dark, with only a small window near the ceiling, half blocked out by a stack of thick books, as the single source of light. Eventually Mika found the book he was looking for, and luckily for him there was a small table and chair nestled right in the corner, under the window. 

The book he’d picked up was much larger than he’d anticipated, rivalling some of the gargantuan encyclopedias he’d passed by on the way here. He was surprised that there was this much to even talk about for Yumenosaki’s history. The school hadn’t even been operating for that long a time! Hefting it down onto the table with a bang, Mika took a seat and peeled back the front cover. Sighing, Mika resigned himself to spending the rest of his afternoon at the library. He had a long job ahead of him. 

\---

[Private Memo: ‘oh shit scooby looks like weve got a mystery on our hands’]  
[Invited Participants: DearWormwood [DW], SunshineEyes [SE], MrFabulous [MF]]  
[SysAdm: ERROR]

[14.41]  
MF: do you guys think a halloween photo shoot would be cool?  
MF: I’m trying to convince Izumi-chan but he’s being his usual stubborn self ໒( •́ ∧ •̀ )७  
MF: I’ve got like  
MF: the perfect idea for it ٩(｡•ω•｡)و  
MF: Izumi-chan would be Dr. Frankenstein  
MF: Ritsu-chan as a vampire obviously  
MF: thats a total no brainer~~ (*´ω｀)o  
MF: then Tsukasa-chan would be totally adorable in a wizard outfit~!  
MF: Ou-sama’s got a werewolfy vibe to him  
MF: and finally yours truly as the beautiful corpse bride~ (✿ ♥‿♥)

[14.47]  
DW: youd be better as beetlejuice  
MF: you wound me Wormy-chan~~ (*｀∧´*)  
DW: stop that  
MF: stop what~~~~?  
DW: you know what  
MF: hmmm? I don’t think I do  
DW: stop calling me wormy-chan  
DW: its demeaning  
MF: but why would I do that when it’s such a cute name for you!  
DW: im not cute  
MF: everyone is cute to me~ へ__(‾◡◝ )>  
DW: gay  
MF: what can I say  
MF: guilty as charged~~  
MF: (◦´♡‿♡`◦) ♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧ ℒℴѵℯ ✧♡✧*¨*•.❥  
DW: wow  
DW: i had no idea  
DW: where were the signs  
DW: (that was sarcasm)  
MF: I like strong boys  
MF: nice boys  
MF: dirty boys （○゜ε＾○）  
DW: heavens to betsy  
MF: business boys and party boys  
MF: rowdy rambunctious boys  
DW: ok ok i get the picture  
DW: youre almost too homo to function etc etc  
DW: might i remind you this chat was not created for this kind of filth  
MF: ಠ╭╮ಠ  
DW: wait shit that came out wrong  
DW: i have literally zero beef with homosexuality  
DW: making that explicitly clear  
MF: hmmmm ok~  
MF: that’s good to hear (☆▽☆)  
DW: what i was trying to say  
DW: was that this chat was for mystery solving  
DW: not talking about random shit like halloween photo shoots  
MF: since when?  
MF: I see no rule about that anywhere~  
MF: you should be grateful I value your opinion this much (•̀⌄•́)  
DW: arent you meant to be in the middle of class right now  
MF: yes~~  
MF: Takahashi-sensei may have a keen eye but I have mastered the ultimate techniques in texting during class  
MF: besides, it’s not my fault this class is so horribly tedious ＼（〇_ｏ）／  
MF: I came to Yumenosaki to be an idol, not learn about the Taisho Era (#｀皿´)  
DW: its still a school isnt it  
DW: a school for learning  
DW: learning things like history  
MF: we’re getting off topic~!  
MF: what do you think about my idea? (　`_ゝ´)  
DW: we were never on topic to begin with  
SE: Guys! Help me!  
DW: woah whats hip-happening  
MF: Mika-chan! you’re right on time  
MF: scroll up and tell me what you think about the photo shoot ~(＾◇^)/  
SE: Sorry Naru-chan, I don’t have the time now!  
MF: what’s wrong??  
SE: It’s this book! How can a book be so boring? I’m going to fall asleep…  
SE: I’m so bored I snuck out my phone in the library, even though I could get thrown out if I’m caught. Wait...do libraries have security cameras!?  
DW: lol  
MF: um  
MF: I doubt a library like Kaiganmura’s has the funds for security cameras (*≧艸≦)  
SE: Oh, phew. That’s a big relief.  
MF: so did you find a clue at the library then~?  
MF: what’s this book you’re reading hmm?  
SE: It’s called ‘The Complete History of Yumenosaki: Conception to Present Day’. It looks like it was written by an ex-idol who went to the school. It’s really in depth, but so dull…  
SE: I haven’t even found anything in it which might be useful yet! That said, did you know that the school didn’t have a Regular Course until 2004?  
DW: huh  
DW: you dont say  
MF: if the books not any good, were there at least some newspapers which might be helpful?  
SE: Oh, right. The newspapers. I looked, but I couldn’t find anything.  
SE: Well, that’s not exactly true. I found something, but it was in a place I couldn’t recognise the reference number of, away from all the rest of the archives.  
SE: And then, when I went to ask the receptionist, she told me it’s ‘not currently available’, with no indication of when it will be.  
MF: really?  
MF: that sounds super suspicious if you ask me (๑•̆૩•̆)  
SE: I thought so too! Do you think it could be hidden on purpose?  
MF: if the school is trying to cover something up, then it’s likely  
SE: What do you think, Wormwood?  
DW: no comment  
MF: eh? what’s that supposed to mean~~~~~?  
DW: no comment  
MF: rude (;*△*;)  
MF: what are you hiding~?  
SE: Come on, Naru-chan. If Wormwood doesn’t want to say anything, they don’t have to. Unhelpful though it may be…  
SE: But anyway, that’s the situation right now. I put in a request for the article, and gave them my email, so if it does become available we can get it straight away.  
MF: basically you couldnt find anything useful  
SE: Yes, I’m afraid so. Unless this book gives us something, though I doubt it.  
MF: ugh, that sucks （；￣д￣）  
MF: we have literally nothing to start investigating with tomorrow  
SE: Looks like it…  
MF: unless  
SE: Unless…?  
DW: i feel like if this was a real life conversation this point is where youd both turn to me deviously  
MF: hehe  
DW: you want some help i guess  
SE: If you don’t mind? Just something to get us started.  
DW: sigh  
MF: did you just type out sigh  
DW: shut it you  
MF: (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))  
SE: Haha.  
DW: anyway  
DW: ill give you something i guess  
DW: since it looks like you two are hopeless  
SE: ...  
MF: well?  
DW: gimme a second to think of something  
DW: gosh  
SE: Sorry!  
MF: .  
SE: ..  
MF: ...  
SE: ....  
DW: morioka  
MF: what does that mean? (；´д｀)ゞ  
SE: I think it’s a name.  
DW: ding ding ding  
DW: once again mika is proving himself the more competent of you two  
MF: that’s not fair  
MF: I’ve been in class this whole time~!  
DW: yeah so you better start putting work in soon  
DW: if you want to catch up  
SE: Why did you give us a name?  
DW: i cant tell you that  
SE: But you think we can get started with just the name itself?  
DW: ...  
DW: no comment  
MF: thanks a bunch wormy-chan~~ ( ˘ ³˘)♥  
DW: s t o p  
MF: we’ll get investigating this Morioka person first thing tomorrow  
SE: Right! I’m excited!!  
MF: o(≧∇≦o)  
MF: oh jeez  
MF: I did a little cheer and I think Takahashi-sensei noticed I was on my phone （ΟΔΟ；）  
MF: got to go~~~!  
SE: Bye, Naru-chan! See you tomorrow.  
DW: dont let the door hit you on the way out  
SE: I should probably log off as well. At least, I should if I want to try and finish this book before tomorrow morning…  
DW: good luck  
SE: Thanks. Bye!  
DW: seeya

\---

As Mika had feared, it was late evening by the time he finally returned from town. The sky, which had been lit by the last vestiges of light when he had left the library, was now an inky blackness. It was an overcast day, so the moon was hidden partially behind a cover of clouds, only occasionally peeking out from fleeting gaps which opened up every now and again. 

Shu’s house was at the top of a hill, lined the whole road up with homes the same boxy style as the Itsuki household. On clear days, the view from the precipice laid out the entirety of Kaiganmura, from the ocean to the west all the way over to the distant figures of skyscrapers in the east: sentinels of the town’s closest city. But now that the seasons had begun to change, with the drop of both leaves and temperature, there were fewer and fewer days where the view stretched out that far.

Out of breath from the climb up, Mika finally pushed through the front gate of the house, walking down the short stone path to the front door. He patted himself down, trying to locate in which of his pockets he’d put his house keys in. As he searched, Mika began to get the sinking feeling he’d forgotten to pick them up before leaving. It wouldn’t be the first time; Shu derided him for it what felt like every week. Which related to his current predicament. Mika was left but no option but knock on the door and wait for the other boy to let him in - for he was surely home, as he always was once the clock went past six. This would mean a confrontation with Shu would be unavoidable, which considering Mika had yet not earned his forgiveness for last night - now more unlikely than ever, since he’d disobeyed his order to stay home - would not go well. Mika’s best hope would be that Shu was in a ignore-you-for-days moods rather than shout-at-you-for-days one. Either option was terrible, though.

Gathering his courage, Mika tentatively rapped his knuckles on the door. There was no sound of movement from inside the house, nor any indication that anyone was even inside. Mika wondered if he’d forgotten something - like if Shu had said he was in fact going somewhere today. If that was the case, then Mika really would be in trouble. He’d have to message Arashi to see if he could stay over in his home for the night, which would be another forty minute journey. Another minute passed, and Mika took out his phone, grateful to see it still had some battery left. But just before he could tap the call button, he was interrupted by the swinging open of the front door. Startled, Mika swivelled round from where he’d bee facing the street, locking his eyes with the stony purple ones of a certain Mr. Itsuki.

Shu was definitely not happy. Crossed arms, slightly hunched shoulders: all the telltale signs were there. Still, though, Shu said nothing, only continuing the glare at Mika, who began to feel sweat gathering on his brow under such an intense stare. Fumbling to find himself, Mika shoved his phone back in his pocket and clapped his hands together, in some kind of an attempt of a friendly gesture. 

“O-Oshi-san…! Uh, thanks for openin’ the door. I was, er, wonderin’ if you were in, actually. Look, I know that ya’ said-”

“You interrupted some important work, Kagehira. I hope you’re pleased with yourself.” 

“Uh-” Mika had nothing to say to that, only wishing beyond words for this conversation to be over as soon as possible. As it was, he wasn’t even sure if Shu would actually let him in the house. Thankfully, though, it seemed that Valkyrie's leader wasn’t angry enough to go _that_ far. Not yet, anyway. With one his distinctive dismissive huffs, Shu moved away from the doorframe, stepping aside to let Mika in.

“You’re letting all the warm air out. I’ll be in my workshop.” Before Mika could reply, Itsuki had already departed down the dim hallway. Heeding his words, Mika quickly entered the house, shutting the front door closed after him. He didn’t feel like taking the risk of wandering around, so instead headed straight up to his room. Kicking of his shoes at the foot of the bed, he collapsed onto the soft mattress and unmade bedsheets, willing himself to sink into its loving folds. 

Somehow he’d survived that ordeal, but Mika doubted he’d be getting any homemade lunches for a long time.

\--

Morning came, and with it new tensions. Shu pointedly said nothing to Mika the whole time before school, not even to remind him about any upcoming practices Valkyrie may have. He left the kitchen when Mika came in, took himself out of the hallway when Mika went to grab his schoolbag, and left the house a full quarter of an hour before he usually did, leaving only the bang of the front door in his wake.

Even though he was glad to be out of Shu’s oppressive presence for now, a feeling of guilt had settled deep in Mika’s gut overnight, and refused to budge.Yes, he had been eager to start trying to solve Wormwood’s mystery yesterday, but couldn’t he have waited until the next day? It wasn’t like anything would’ve changed. He’d just have to go to the library after school, and maybe Arashi could’ve even gone with him. Perhaps, even, with two heads rather than one, they could’ve found something useful.

But the past couldn’t be changed, no matter how hard Mika wished he could. What was done was done, and now he had to live with the consequences, and ride out Shu’s anger. The other boy had to come around eventually, or at least be willing to talk to him. Then Mika could apologise, and Shu would accept it in the gruff way he always accepted things like apologies or thanks, and they could move on. 

For now though, Mika was stuck with his turgid emotions, which was definitely not the best attitude to go into school with. In times like this, he remembered how his mother had always told him that the best way to help work through bad emotions were to talk it out with someone you trusted:

[Private Chat: MrFabulous [MF]]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

[08.28]  
SE: Arashi, what do you do when you’ve fallen out with one of Knights? To the point where they won’t even acknowledge your existence…  
MF: this is early~~  
MF: you can’t wait until school to talk to me, hm~? (*＾▽＾)／  
SE: Naru-chan, I’m being serious.  
MF: right right sorry （｀〇Д〇）  
MF: I do take you seriously Mika-chan~  
MF: to answer your question  
MF: I can’t say I’ve ever fallen out with someone from Knights to that extent  
MF: but trust me, there has been many times where I’ve had to face the full wrath of Izumi-chan or Tsukasa-chan’s anger ヾ(;ﾟДﾟﾟ;)ｼ  
MF: you know what they say...  
MF: hell hath no fury like a idol scorned~~~ (◕⌓◕;)  
MF: is this about Itsuki-chan, by any chance?  
SE: You’ve got me...He is really mad at me for leaving his house without his permission yesterday.  
MF: and he won’t even talk to you?? (。ヘ°)  
SE: No. I feel really bad about it. But it was my fault, after all, so he’s perfectly justified in his actions.  
SE: I guess it’s actually kind of selfish for me to look for reassurance in that case…  
SE: Sorry to waste your time like this.  
MF: No!!!!!  
MF: if you feel bad then I have no problem helping you even if it's for selfish reasons~~~~! ( ≧Д≦)  
MF: that’s what friends do Mika-chan  
SE: Thank you, Naru-chan.  
MF: so you feel bad because Itsuki-chan is mad as you?  
SE: Yes. Mainly guilt…  
MF: you should just talk to him~!( •⌄• )✧  
MF: if he’s not going to make the effort to patch things up, then you should  
MF: tell him exactly what you told me and that you’re really sorry  
SE: Oshi-san isn’t really the person for heart-to-heart conversations.  
MF: well he needs to change that~ （￣□￣；）  
MF: what kind of unit does he expect to run if he won’t even talk to his fellow members  
SE: ...  
MF: look Mika-chan  
MF: rather than Itsuki-chan, think of this instead!  
MF: when you get here, you and me are gonna go investigate into Morioka, and solve this mystery’s butt (((ง’ω’)و三 ง’ω’)ڡ≡  
MF: and you can take your mind off everything Valkyrie until after school~~  
MF: okay~~~? （○゜ε＾○）  
SE: Haha, okay.  
SE: Yeah...I’m sure he’ll be in a better mood this evening, and I’ll try to talk to him then, like you suggested. I’m also really excited about starting investigation proper as well!  
MF: Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ  
SE: Oh, whoops. I have to leave for school now. See you there! And: thank you for the encouragement!  
MF: my pleasure~  
MF: I’ll see you too, Mika-chan~!

\--

Mika arrived at school revitalized. Yes, the apprehension and doubt regarding the whole Shu issue was still very much in his mind, but for now he could put it to the side. At least, he could until tonight. 

Adjusting his bag, which had begun to slip off his shoulder again, he slid open the door for classroom 2-B, entering with a clear sense of giddiness in his step. Pausing at the front of the room, he took in familiar sight of his classroom. Appearance-wise, it was unchanged from yesterday: bookshelves at the back stacked with large textbooks, tacky posters and displays stuck to the wall. Takahashi-sensei’s notes from yesterday were even still written on the chalkboard at the front. It was, in every sense, a room for learning. A room to discover new things about the world around you that you never had any idea of before. 

“Mika-chan!” He heard a voice cry out to him, recognising it instantly as Arashi. The blonde boy had jumped up from his desk, and was now bounding his way over to Mika, blue eyes alight with joy. At the sight of his friend’s ecstatic energy, Mika couldn’t stop the optimistic grin which slid onto his face.

Yes, this was a classroom. But for today, in Mika’s eyes, it took on a new role. It was no longer just classroom 2-B, where he spent the hours listening to lectures about science and maths. It was a crime scene, and it was his duty to investigate it.


	5. Exeunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _‘Now, I am not the fool I was when I was younger_   
>  _Crocodile eyes, I have seen how you hunger’_

“Looks like this rain is going to last until tomorrow, at least.”

Mika hummed in response, barely acknowledging Arashi. His partner, now, he supposed. Sworn to work together with Mika in putting together the puzzle pieces of Wormwood, they were Mika and Arashi: Ace Detectives. He could picture the book cover now - or maybe movie poster? What kind of media would a story like this be best told in? 

Considering how much internet chatrooms played a part in it, a novel wouldn’t really convey it effectively. Not unless he wanted to go all unconventional and have pages dedicated to a completely different format of font and colour. That would boot up printing prices a bit, at the very least. Was the author or the publisher accountable for that, though? Mika had never really put much thought into it, but really, he didn’t know that much at all about the business of writing and publishing something. On the other hand, a movie wouldn’t have that issue. It would, however, have to tackle the problem of making three people talking online visually stimulating. Perhaps a director imaginative enough could find a way around that. Or maybe it could switch to representing the digital world as a distinct one to the real world: a new environment with characters representing the real people, acting out the chat. Like that animated movie Mika had watched during middle school. When it came down to it, both a book or movie were viable options, if someone was willing to put the effort in.

Mika sighed. He was getting sidetracked. 

But that was because things had come to a stalemate. What felt like a thousand thoughts and ideas had been bounced between them regarding how best to start tackling the school investigation, but nothing had stuck. Learning the name ‘Morioka’ from Wormwood had felt like real progress, but it wasn’t that helpful, in the grand scheme of things. The two of them had thought hard for something, _anything_ , which they could think of to link ‘Morioka’ to Yumenosaki. But there had been nothing, still was nothing, and didn’t look like there would be anything _but_ nothing in the near future. Going back to Wormwood for more help was something Mika had been reluctant to do, when Arashi had brought it up. He felt like he had something to prove, as if being able to figure out what Wormwood meant would validate him as - what? Mika didn’t really know, but remained stubborn in his resolution regardless.

It had been rather disheartening when eventually, the two had reluctantly come to the conclusion that their only option right now would be to just start randomly asking people around the school, hoping to get lucky. That would be a massive undertaking, considering there were not only the other idol course students to consider, but the people in the other courses, as well as staff members. They couldn’t just put a memo up on the School SMS, considering they needed to remain “undercover”, so to speak. Having both silently realised the enormity of their task, they had become silent, and remained so for the past few minutes. Or at least they had, until Arashi had spoken up just now.

The blond second-year had been referring to the weather, obviously, which had been a gloomy drizzle since around an hour ago, and should the forecast be accurate, would remain so. Chin forlornly resting in his palm, Mika gazed out the window, just as he had two days previously. Back then, the whole school had been covered by a golden sheen of fallen leaves, softly caressed by gentle autumn winds. Now, however, the gold was a dreary grey, and the gentle winds were strong enough to rattle the windows, creating an unpleasant cacophony of noise, thankfully muted by the double-glazed windows the school had wisely decided to invest in during construction. The sky was at least bright, even though it was blanketed completely with clouds. A small consolation, but one nonetheless.

Mika strained himself, trying to think of something to talk about. Anything to at the very minimum stop the dull atmosphere between him and Arashi. Nothing came to mind. Maybe Shu had been right all those times; maybe Mika’s head really was utterly devoid of anything. 

Mika was interrupted from his self-pity, not by Arashi, but by another presence making themselves known, languidly resting their elbows on the desk between the two of them. Ritsu Sakuma, another 2-B student, and Arashi’s fellow member of Knights, had interjected himself rather carelessly in the space, and judging by the fact that he hadn’t bothered to even look at Mika, it seemed he probably just had something to ask Arashi.

“What do you need, Ritsu-chan?” Clearly, Arashi had the same thought process as Mika. Yawning, Ritsu took his time in responding, words slurring slightly:

“Maa-kun has gone away, and I don’t have anything to eat. Would you go buy me something, Natchan?” 

“I’m a little busy with Mika-chan right now. Can you wait?” Arashi smiled accommodatingly, and for the first time Ritsu ever so slightly turned his head towards Mika, as if he hadn’t even realised the black-haired boy was there until now.

“You don’t look very busy…” Ritsu quietly muttered, not turning away from Mika. Awkwardly, Mika raised a hand in an attempt of a greeting, but the other boy made no indication that he actually noticed, or cared, if he had. 

“Well, we are, I’m afraid. Where is Mao-chan, anyway? With the rest of Trickstar?” Finally Ritsu looked away from him, and Mika’s entire body sagged with relief. He’d never had a conversation with his classmate, and didn’t particularly want to, if he could avoid it.

“No. I already checked. I think he might have something with the school council.” Arashi nodded in acknowledgement.

“Well, alright. We can go and buy you something.”

“‘We’...? Why do I have to go?”

“I can hardly know what to get you if you don’t show me.” Arashi retorted, a hint of sharp edge lacing his tone. Ritsu sighed, but had nothing to argue that. Stepping away from the desk, Arashi followed suit, picking up his bag and flashing a apologetic smile as Mika.

“Sorry, Mika-chan. I’ll be back soon.”

“No, no. It’s- it’s fine, Naru-chan. We weren’t really makin’ any progress anyway.” Mika rushed to reassure him, and Arashi gave one final wave before exiting to room, Ritsu slowly ambling after him.

With Arashi gone, Mika resigned himself to getting nothing accomplished this break, and since both he and Arashi had clubs to attend to after school today, it seemed unlikely anything would for the rest of the day either. Leaning back in his chair, Mika renewed his aimless window-gazing. But before he could get properly settled, his phone buzzed. Picking it up, Mika noted the pink text flashing up on the screen. What did Arashi have to say to him so soon after leaving?

[Private Chat: MrFabulous [MF]]  
[SysAdm: Remember to always be respectful to your fellow students. School SMS is monitored by staff!]

[12.05]  
MF: I’ve just had an idea Mika-chan!  
MF: an actually good one~ (◍´͈ꈊ`͈◍)  
SE: What is it? Aren’t you supposed to be buying food or something for Sakuma-san right now?  
MF: Mika-chan please  
MF: I can walk and text at the same time (╯︵╰,)  
SE: Right...If you say so.  
MF: （・∀・）  
MF: anyway, remember what Ritsu-chan said when I asked him about Mao-chan~~?  
SE: Um, I think so. He said he was doing something for the student council, right?  
MF: right!  
SE: I’m lost. What’s your idea?  
MF: if there is going to be one place where we can easily get information about someone called Morioka, it would be in the school records (ノ^o^)ノ  
SE: The records…?  
SE: Oh!  
MF: do you get it now~?  
SE: You’re saying I should go to the student council room and look in the records.  
MF: yes~~~~!  
SE: But...I doubt regular students would be allowed to look into something like that.  
MF: no~  
MF: which is why you’ll ask Mao-chan to let you, just this once~~!  
MF: if it was any of the other student council members, you’d have no chance ＼(;´□｀)/  
SE: But because Isara-san is our classmate, I might with him?  
MF: very quick on the uptake, I see~~  
MF: plus you could use the fact that his boyfriend is in the same unit as me as leverage  
MF: (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧  
SE: Do you think that would work?  
MF: there’s no harm in trying  
MF: I’ve got to go Mika-chan~~  
MF: you should head there now though, before lunch ends~ (*●⁰ꈊ⁰●)ﾉ  
SE: Goodbye!

\---

The student council room could be found on the first floor of the idol course building, towards the far end, past the first year classrooms. There, it was left down another corridor where all the faculty offices were located, before finally the ostentatious entrance loomed; the last door before the hallway came to an end.

It was almost paradoxical, Mika thought, hovering in front of the doorway, that such an important room in the school was tucked so far away from everything else. Its location, combined with the opulent mahogany double dooring, gave the impression of a palace, separated from the rest of the peasantry, yet grandly overseeing their proceedings with arrogant glee. Fitting, considering the room was practically the second home of the “Emperor”. Or rather, of Eichi Tenshouin. For that reason, Mika had never been in the room before. Shu’s hatred for all things Tenshouin was not something unknown to him, by any means. For Shu, and therefore, for Mika as well, Eichi was unequivocally the number one enemy of Valkyrie. After all, Eichi had been the revolutionary to topple Valkyrie’s empire, making room for his own rule to be instated. 

Mika swallowed. Beyond that door was what felt like holy territory: the untouchable grounds that someone like him should never even be near, nevermind step into. Arashi was right though, the school records were the best place to start looking for Morioka, so it was up to Mika to push aside his fears and get this over with. He’d need to appear confident, like he belonged there, and that asking to see confidential documents was just another ordinary day for him. Mao would be suspicious, of course - that was just his personality. But Mika had all the tools needed to convince him at his disposal, he just needed to use them properly. 

Straightening his back, Mika took in a breath, and tried to set his expression to something more calm and collected. Reaching forward, he politely knocked on the polished wood, before grasping the door handle and making his way inside. As the room came into focus, so did the single figure inside, looking out the large window on the back wall, directly opposite the doors. Mika froze, hand still resting on the handle, feeling the colour drain from his face. Slowly, the figure turned round to register the new arrival into the room. Upon seeing him, they raised a single eyebrow, and Mika’s mouth suddenly felt rather dry.

“Kagehira-kun? This _is_ a surprise.”

Smooth blonde hair, hands steepled delicately in front of his chest, an angelic expression with a soft smile that hid far more sinister intentions. This was Yumenosaki’s “Emperor”, and Mika’s worst nightmare.

The added danger of coming to the student council room was not just the risk of something exactly like this happening, but the fact that the council were only a few short rungs down from the school’s upper administration in terms of authority. They held an unbreakable closeness to the people who Mika and Arashi wanted to keep off their backs, so another goal of Mika’s in coming here was not only to get the information he wanted, but to get it in a manner which didn’t incriminate him or give away anything he was doing regarding Wormwood. If it had been Mao, then that would’ve been simple enough. The second year was fairly shrewd, but at the same time eager to lend a helping hand where he could. If he thought that Mika just needed to see the school records for innocent reasons - added to the fact that they shared a bond already just by being classmates - he wouldn't have asked many, if any, questions.

Eichi, conversely, was not only smart enough to immediately pick up on any questionable behaviour or excuses from Mika, but cruel enough to act on them, pushing Mika for more information through whatever tactics or angles needed. Not only that, he and Shu had a bone to pick, and Eichi was in no way above heckling Mika if it meant gaining an advantage over Valkyrie’s leader. The latter reason was exactly why Shu had banned Mika from ever even going near Eichi on his own, nevermind talk to him. Worst of all, Eichi would do all this, and keep the same pleasant smile on his face the entire time. He was truly, as Shu had once called him during one of his vitriolic rants, a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. And right now, Mika was the helpless lamb, caught in his ravenous gaze.

“Did you need something, or do you just plan on standing in the doorway, Kagehira-kun?” Eichi’s melodic voice rattled Mika into action. He rubbed his clammy palms against his trouser leg, rapidly trying to think of way out of his unfortunate situation. Eichi was looking at him expectantly, and the longer Mika waited to respond, the worse things would be for him.

“Oh, um, I...didn’t think you would be here, Tenshouin-senpai.” It was the first thought that had come to his head, and Mika winced internally at his poor excuse. It felt strange to speak so cordially to the person who had single-handedly forced Valkyrie to the pathetic status they were now.

“That’s strange. I _am_ the student council president, and this _is_ the student council room,” Eichi said, laughing lightly, as if he’d shared some wonderful joke. Mika didn’t find it especially funny, in any case. Eichi definitely didn’t buy his bluff, not that it had been a very good one to begin with.

“I didn’t know this was the student council room…?” That was even worse! Eichi’s continuous stare was unnerving him, making it harder for Mika to think rationally. 

“Hmm...I see.” Yep, he had Mika sussed out completely. Probably had from the second Mika stepped through the door. Mika considered just turning tail and leaving, before things got any worse. That’s what Shu would want him to do. Yet, at the same time, Mika couldn't bring himself to just walk away from the chance to find something out regarding Wormwood. The records were the only decent idea he and Arashi and come up with, and for that reason Mika wasn’t eager to abandon it. It was this hesitation which stilled him, and gave Eichi the opportunity to continue the conversation:

“What room were you looking for then, Kagehira-kun? Has your ‘master’ sent you out on an errand?” Now came the personal attacks. Eichi had been far too polite up until now. Mika felt a stab of anger, suddenly wanting to rise up and defend Shu. 

“N-not at all! I was, er, lookin’ for the library.”

“But the library is quite a few doors down from here. It even has ‘library’ written above it. Surely not even you could be so obtuse as to miss something like that.” Mika looked to ground, unsure how to answer that. Vicious though it was, Eichi was right. His attempts to explain himself were falling flat. 

“Who were you hoping to see here instead of me? Isara-kun, perhaps?”

“Y-yeah.” There was no point lying about that, it was clear Eichi had already concluded that to be the truth before he’d even asked the question.

“You just missed him, then.” Dammit. Trust Mika to be unlucky enough to somehow not only miss Mao when going through the school halls, but to be just a few minutes too late.

“What did you need from him so desperately? Maybe I can assist you.” That, on the other hand, was a lie. Eichi would never help Mika, considering - in his mind - it most likely involved indirectly helping Shu as well. Mika was growing more and more frustrated. Eichi just kept pushing and pushing, and Mika just didn’t have the experience nor nerve to keep pace with his masterful maneuvering of the conversation. He’d been destined to lose such a verbal battle from the very start, and it was foolish to think otherwise. So instead, Mika took a more aggressive route:

“Like I’d tell ya’ what I need! You’d jus’ use it against me.” Eichi sighed at his outburst, much like how a disappointed parent would at their child’s tantrum.

“I’m not trying to be your enemy, Kagehira-kun. I don’t know what propaganda Itsuki-kun has installed in your head about me, but I assure you it’s highly exaggerated. I had _nothing_ to do with the failure of Valkyrie’s live last year.” More false platitudes. Shu had told Mika exactly what Eichi had done, and how the two leaders had confronted each other afterwards. 

“Still...your reaction does tell me that you do, in fact, require something from in here. Rather badly, even, considering how vehemently you denied it.” Mika gulped, coming to the cold realisation that he’d make a vital error during his outburst. Now there was a zero percent chance that Eichi wouldn’t be keeping an eye on him from now on. It was time to abort his current mission, records or no.

“Sorry to waste ya’ time, Tenshouin-senpai. I-I’ll be goin’, now.” Whipping round, Mika left through the still open doorway into the hall.

“There’s no need to run, Kagehira-kun. We’re just talking.” Yeah, and Mika was walking. Eichi could have the last word in this confrontation, Mika was more concerned with leaving before he gave anything else away. 

Why was he such a screw-up when it came to this crime solving business? First the public library debacle, now this. Ace detective? More like ace de- _fect_ -ive.

\---

“I can’t believe you had to face the ‘Emperor’ like that, Mika-chan!” Back in the classroom, it was after school now, and Arashi had just finished listening to Mika recount the terrible experience that had been lunch. 

“Neither can I...I really botched it up, Naru-chan.” Mika, currently, had his head resting on his desk in utter despair at the earlier disaster. Arashi, meanwhile, was rubbing his back, trying to provide some comfort and reassurance to his friend. 

“I’m sure it wasn’t _that_ bad. You’re probably just overthinking things!” Mika was grateful of Arashi’s attempt to cheer him up, but he didn’t believe a word of it.

“I’m not, Naru-chan. He’s completely goin’ to be on our case now! There’s no chance of us gettin’ the records,” Mika whined. Not only that, but this was going to get Mika in more trouble with Shu, for Eichi would relish the opportunity to taunt Shu about today’s encounter, especially considering they were both members of class 3-A. Why did life have to be so difficult?

“Don’t worry about it, Mika-chan! We’ll think of something else. Something even better than that crummy idea.” Mika looked up then, sniffing. A faint shimmer of hope sparkled in his eyes as he looked towards Arashi.

“Did ya’ think of another, then?” Arashi bright smiled instantly became strained, as though he were eating something unpleasant, yet trying not to let his distaste show.

“Not...ex- _actly_ ,” he drawled. Mika let out a groan of defeat, head falling back into its previous position with a loud bang. That would sting later.

“There’s nothing we can do right now. We both have clubs to go to, so just put your mind to that for now. We can talk later this evening on the School SMS - maybe even with Wormwood!” It wasn’t much consolation, but Arashi had a point. There wasn’t anything they could do at this moment, and as much as Mika wanted to, sulking like he was wouldn’t help.

Pulling himself together, the pair gave a last unenthusiastic goodbye, before going their separate ways. A feeling of disappointment settled deep in both of their chests at how they’d wasted an entire day, and achieved absolutely nothing. 

\---

It was a small relief that Shu had decided to skip club activities this week. That was a can of worms Mika didn’t want to open right now. As it was, when Mika entered the room for the handicraft club, the only other person present was Tsumugi Aoba, an upperclassman from 3-B. The soft-spoken boy was kind enough, happily making the effort to talk Mika through some of the more complicated sewing techniques he couldn’t quite grasp, but he and Mika had never really talked personally. Switch’s members all tended to be a little too eccentric for Mika, even if Tsumugi was the most grounded of the three. On top of that, Tsumugi had used to be a member of Fine, and though he had since departed, he still held a great admiration for Eichi, adding that extra layer of awkwardness.

They both gave each other the complementary greetings, but said no more, Tsumugi returning to his own project, while Mika went to dig out his. Pulling open the various draws from the shelving at the side, Mika eventually found what he was currently working on. In its current state, it was a messy pile of materials, partly stitched together, but mostly just a big jumble. The plan was eventually for the pile to become something resembling a costume. It was intended to be a replica of one Mika had made previously for one of Shu’s dolls, upscaled to fit a person, but so far progress was slow. He’d already had a debacle where he’d used the wrong colour thread to stitch two pieces together, and it had taken several hours to unstitch everything, plus then he’d had to go out and buy some more thread to replace the length he’d wasted.

Sitting at one of the several tables scattered about the small room, Mika laid out the pieces into a vague skeleton of the finished outfit. It was a frilly idol dress, designed for a female a little shorter than Mika. He hadn’t modelled it to anyone, but it was based on an idol group he’d seen on a TV idol competition recently. They had been his favourite, and their colourful costume of blue, white and pink had stuck in his mind, inspiring his creation.

The costume consisted of a three layered skirt, joined to an upper bodied section of blue and white, crisscrossed with blue ribbon around the stomach area. On the side, around waist height, was a pink ribbon, and the very top of the dress was to feature a frilled white collar. Finally the sleeves, though blue like the upper half of the chest section, would be ended in more dark blue ribbon, as well as another bit of white frill. Finishing the entire look were to be white socks, blue ballet style shoes, and a miniature boater hat. Overall, it was an enormous undertaking for an amatuer like Mika, but he was determined to finish it before the year ended. 

The repetitive action of sewing acted as a relaxant for Mika. His mind began to wander, as he thought towards his plans for the rest of the day. He’d be here until about five-ish, when then he had a shift at the convenience store for the rest of the afternoon, as well as some of the evening, in order to make up for time lost during his sick-day yesterday. He'd be home by around eight, maybe, and then there was homework - Japanese and maths, if he remembered correctly. He’d probably be able to talk with Wormwood and Arashi for the short gap of time before bed, but it wasn’t very long if he wanted to brainstorm properly...Maybe today would just have to be later night than usu-

“Mika-chan!” A hand grabbed his arm, jerking it away from the fabric, and causing him to mess up the stitch he’d been halfway through. Pulled around to face the person who’d intruded on his personal thinking time, Mika came face to face with the exuberant face of Arashi, still in his running clothes from the track and field club, face red with exertion and covered by a sheen of sweat, as if he’d ran all the way here. Which, to be fair, he probably had. 

“What’re ya’ doing here?” Mika asked. From across the room, Tsumugi stared at the two, clearly surprised as Mika was. 

“There’s no time to explain, we have to go.” Before Mika could retort, Arashi was dragging him out of the room with a surprisingly high amount of strength. Arashi’s membership of the track and field club wasn't just for show - he put the work in, and it showed. Eventually, though, when the two were about halfway down the empty corridor, Mika managed to drag his heels enough to force them to a stop.

“ _What’s goin’ on_ , Naru-chan?” Mika cried, “What’re you so excited about!?” Arashi crossed his arms impatiently and tapped his foot, wanting to get them to wherever it was he wanted to go. Still, he was grinning wildly.

“I’ve found Morioka!” Arashi practically shouted, lucky there was no-one else around but them.

And that was all he had to say to get Mika running alongside him to their still unknown destination. Feet pounding on the linoleum floors, they reached the exit to the idol course building, and raced outside into the chilly autumn day. It was, as predicted, still raining, but Mika hardly felt the chill as he followed closely behind his friend over the deserted athletics fields, towards the large rectangular building of the school gym. Finally, Arashi began to slow as they approached the closed doors that led into the gym lobby. Breathing heavily, Mika took in the full size of the school gym.

“You found..” he gasped out between breaths, “Morioka in the gym?” Arashi chuckled at Mika’s incredulous tone, nowhere near as out of breath as Mika was.

“Sort of. You’ll understand in a second. Follow me.” Heeding his instructions, Mika stayed close to Arashi’s heel as he led him inside. The lobby acted as the main gateway between the different sections of the gym: there was an entrance to two sets of changing rooms - male and female - as well as doorways which exited into both the sports hall and the swimming pool respectively. Finally, disregarding the main exit outside, there was a staircase leading to the gym which held all the workout equipment. As for the lobby itself, the floor was covered by a lush red carpet, and there were some sofas making up seating areas, alongside several glass cabinets.

It was one of these cabinets which Arashi led them towards. The one closest to the entrance of the sports hall. As he got nearer, Mika soon realised the entire thing was filed with various awards and trophies won by the school for sporting achievements over the years, varying from large silver cups to understated plain metal plaques. 

“Trophies?” Mika questioned. Arashi nodded, pointing up towards one in particular. Following his finger, it seemed he was singling out a smaller bronze trophy that sat on a small wooden stand, fronted by a metal plate engraved with names. It was high up on the shelf, towards the back, making it hard to read the carved out metal. 

“I pass by this cabinet every week, but I’ve never really given it the time of day.” Arashi began to explain, which would hopefully clear up some of Mika’s confusion, although he had a inkling of where this was going regardless.

“I wouldn’t have today, either, but it was just so chance that Mitsuru-chan asked me about the T-and-F’s previous awards before he was there. So I, being the dutiful and caring senpai I am, came out here to check.” His story was illustrated with extravagant hand gestures; sweeping movement which Mika guessed were supposed to represent Arashi running out of the gym. 

“And what did I notice but _this_ trophy,” he announced, striking a dramatic pose for effect, “bearing the name we’ve been searching so hard for.” At this point, he took out a set of keys from his short pocket, swinging them round on his index finger while grinning smugly, hugely self-satisfied by his achievements.

“That’s not all, though. There’s something even more interesting about this trophy, but I haven’t had to chance to take a closer look yet. I figured it would be best to come get you first, and pick up the cabinet keys from the janitor’s office while I was at it.” Mika thought it best not to ask how he’d gotten the keys from the janitor. Fitting the key into the lock, Arashi swung open the glass doors, reaching up to the top shelf. With a bit of strain, he managed to pull out the bronze trophy without knocking any others over, and once he had, handed it over to Mika.

Eyes drawn to the plaque at the front, Mika read the topmost, and biggest, line: ‘Regional Mixed Basketball Championships - U21s - Third Place 2010/11’. So this trophy was awarded to the basketball team from about five years ago? Underneath that was a list of names, presumably the winning team at the time. Mika raked his gaze down the list, and immediately spotted what Arashi meant when he said there was something ‘more interesting’ about this trophy.

There was, as he had said, the name ‘Morioka’ among the other names. Third way down on the right side, to be exact. However, that itself was the issue - it was _just_ the name ‘Morioka’. While all other names there listed both first and last names, the first name next to Morioka was covered by scratches, to the point where it was completely unreadable. Mika couldn't even get an idea of the length of the first name, so great was the extent of the desecration. 

“This had t’ be intentional…” Mika murmured. Arashi, who’d been looking over his shoulder the whole time, nodded in agreement. 

“Pretty strange, right?”

“Yeah. Why d’ya think it’s been scratched off like this?”

“Hmm…” Arashi thought for a short moment, before offering his explanation. “Maybe someone had a vendetta against this Morioka person. If Morioka refers to the murdered student, then the school covering that up would count as that, so it was probably them.” Mika considered his theory, but soon found a fairly large hole in it.

“No...that doesn't seem right. The school was tryin’ the cover the whole thing up, without any chance of anyone finding out about it. In that scenario, wouldn’t they just remove the trophy entirely rather than just scratch out the name? If anythin’, that would draw _more_ attention, not less.”

“Ah, you’re right. Guess I was wrong,” Arashi conceded. But once again, Mika disagreed with him.

“I don’t think you’re completely wrong. I think someone did have a vendetta against Morioka, but it was someone separate from th' school. Uh, by which I mean the higher ups who wanted to cover up a murder.”

“Like another student, unrelated to the incident?”

“Probably…I’m not sure, to be honest. This is all just speculation. For all we know, this Morioka could be a completely different one to who we’re lookin' for.” They both went quiet at this, considering the very possible chance that they were barking up the wrong tree here. However, it wasn’t long before Arashi perked up again, snapping his fingers.

“I know a way we could find that out!”

“You do?” Did Arashi have some secret contact Mika didn’t know about?

“This trophy is for the basketball club, so the best person to ask if we want to know more about the basketball club’s past members would be…?” Arashi paused then, and Mika realised he was waiting for him to finish the sentence.

“Um...th' club supervisor?” Mika offered. Arashi slapped his palm against his forehead.

“Ugh, no. We’re trying to keep this whole thing secret from the staff, remember? I’m talking about the basketball club captain, who just so happens to also be the exact kind of person who would be grateful to answer any random question asked to him.”

“Oh, of course!” Mika smiled, before furrowing his eyebrows slightly once more. “Who is that, again?”

“Keep up, Mika-chan. The captain is Chiaki-chan, remember?”

“Chiaki Morisawa? The leader of RYUSEITAI?”

“Do you know another Chiaki in this school?”

“Right, sorry.” Not wanting to waste anymore time arguing over who was and wasn’t the captain, Arashi began to head towards the sports hall entrance, Mika following him, trophy still in hand.

“The basketball club is practicing right now. No need to waste anymore time waiting until tomorrow.” Both of them went through the plain white doors, and into the large gymnasium. The wooden panelled flooring was recently polished, making the whole floor reflect a golden yellow. Due to the weather, clubs which usually would’ve practiced outside were currently sharing inside space today, making the whole room crammed to its very limit with people. Shouting voices battled to be heard over each other as various sports teams tried their hardest to practice in their limited allotted area. One half of the gym was dedicated to net sports, with the tennis, volleyball, and badminton teams all vying to control more of the courts. The other half was shared out among both the contact and ball sports, including both the track and field and basketball club. 

Arashi shooed Mika towards the basketball team, while he headed over to the rest of his waiting club. Approaching the league of red-jersey wearing boys, Mika searched for the distinctive voice of Chiaki, but couldn’t spot him anywhere. Walking up to the member closest to him - Midori Takamine, a first year and another member of RYUSEITAI - he was directed over to a nearby storage cupboard. 

Once inside, Mika was grateful to be away from the noise of the gym, especially considering, as Midori had said, Chiaki was indeed in there. He was crouched low to the floor, facing away from Mika, sorting out various balls into the right baskets - ironic, considering what club he captained. He hadn’t seemed to notice Mika’s entrance, so, after closing the storage room door, hoping to give them a little more privacy, Mika cleared his throat.

“Morisawa-senpai?” The third year’s brown tousled hair bounced energetically as he turned away from the balls towards Mika. In contrast to Mika previous engagement with Eichi, Chiaki plastered one of his signature - and completely genuine - fiery grins on his face.

“Kagehira! That is your name, right? What can I do for you?” Chiaki’s innate friendliness helped to calm Mika’s nervousness, and he offered his own small smile in return.

“I was hopin’ I could ask you a question or two about the basketball club. If that’s alright with ya’, of course, Morisawa-senpai.” At the mention of his club, Chiaki’s entire spirit seem to light up. 

“I’d be delighted! What do you want to know? Are you looking to join? We’re always searching for new members.” Chiaki was certainly...enthusiastic.

“Oh, um, no, nothin’ like that, I’m afraid. I’m not really built for sports, anyway.” Mika thought of his thin, rather feeble, stature, and then of facing against the far more muscular and built members of the basketball team, and tried his best to repress a shudder. Hoping to move his mind away from avenues like that, Mika lifted up the trophy towards Chiaki, who looked at it, puzzled.

“I was wondering if you could tell me somethin’ more about the team on this trophy.” Chiaki took it from him, and began to glance over the plaque. “I’m interested in the scratched out name - ‘Morioka’ - in particular.” 

Chiaki was silent, eyebrows furrowed in thought as he considered Mika’s question. Finally, he answered, with a sigh:

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Kagehira, but this trophy is from a time before I came to Yumenosaki. I recognise one of the names here as a previous captain, but as for Morioka…While it’s a disgrace that a basketball team trophy has been ruined like this,” he paused, as if considering something over, “I don’t think I know the name.”

“You don’t ‘think’?” Mika pressed. Chiaki’s pause had gave him a feeling there was more to be gained here.

“I dunno. Maybe I do? But right now, nothing is springing to mind. Morioka, Morioka…” He rapped his knuckles against his head, as if he could make it work faster that way. Soon, though, he conceded with a sigh.

“There’s nothing. Is that all you wanted to know, Kagehira? About this trophy?” Disappointed at what seemed to be another dead end, Mika shook his head.

“That’s everything. Thanks for the help, Morisawa-senpai.” Chiaki handed the trophy back to him.

“If I remember anything about a ‘Morioka’, I’ll come tell you. You’re in 2-A, right?”

“2-B, actually,” Mika corrected, before exiting the storage cupboard with one final wave towards Chiaki, who gleefully returned it. Once back in the main gym, Mika soon reunited with Arashi, and reported to him how the talk with Chiaki went.

“Well, it’s a shame Chiaki-chan didn’t know anything, but at least we have a clue now, from the trophy. I’ll put it back for now, if you want to return to the handicrafts club.” 

And with that, Mika’s first day of crime investigation came to an end.

\---

The next morning, Mika came to school bright and early, a full half hour before lessons started. He’d organised it with Arashi yesterday evening, on the group chat with Wormwood. They hoped to get started with today’s investigation before lessons started, so that they could maximise the time they had, considering Arashi would be busy with a modelling photoshoot from the mid-afternoon onwards. 

The two of them talked in low whispers, even though they were the only ones in the classroom. There was a shared feeling between them that, despite how silly it was, the school would somehow be able to listen in on them if they talked any louder than they were. Their voices were further covered up by the continued lashing of rain against the the windows, which had yet to let up from yesterday, instead having become even stronger overnight. Forecasts were now warning of a potential storm, and news bulletins were blaring warnings to stay inside this evening, with risks of some flash flooding in lower lying areas of the country. Thankfully, the flood-zone in Kaiganmura didn’t reach Yumenosaki, Shu’s house, or the road between the two, so Mika wouldn’t find himself trapped should a flood actually happen.

Mika and Arashi were discussing the plans for today. Arashi wanted to begin to start questioning students at random about Morioka, and had concluded the most logical method would be to start close to home, with the second year idol course students. Mika, meanwhile, being the more socially awkward of the two, was going to try and find out anything he could regarding the trophy. They’d asked Wormwood about it last night, but they had remained frustratingly uncooperative about it. The message was clear: at this moment, Mika and Arashi were on their own.

So drawn into their discussion were the pair of them, that the sudden bang of the classroom door opening sent Mika jumping what felt like two feet into the air. Both faced the culprit, and Mika was startled to find Chiaki in the doorway, grinning like a madman. Leaving no chance for them to ask any questions, the high-spirited idol rushed forward towards the two, waving a small, square sheet in his hand.

“Kagehira! I was thinking all night yesterday about what you asked me, and I finally remembered: I do know Morioka!”

“Y-you do!?” It was Arashi was uttered the astonished question, Mika rendered mute with amazement that something had actually worked out for them. Chiaki nodded rapidly, head going a mile a minute.

“Yeah,” he exclaimed, overjoyed both in his achievement of remembering something, as well as for the chance to be helpful to an underclassman in need of his aid:

“You’re asking me about Wormwood, aren’t you!”


	6. [An Aside]

[Private Chat: DearWormwood [DW]]  
[SysAdm: ERROR]

[01.11]  
DW: hey  
DW: all this stuff is pretty strange, right?  
DW: confusing too  
DW: you might even be inclined to call it pretty mysterious  
DW: i dunno about you but  
DW: if i had to put this on a mystery scale  
DW: it’d be firmly between ‘scooby doo episode’ and ‘agatha christie novel’  
DW: the base is there and its fairly solid  
DW: but theres room for improvement  
DW: dont you think?  
DW: theres all the hallmarks after all  
DW: a victim  
DW: a mystery  
DW: a murder  
DW: a detective and their watson  
DW: the building blocks are all there  
DW: i guess the difficult part is going from building blocks to a castle though  
DW: yeesh  
DW: ive got my work cut out for me  
DW: keeping an eye over all this stuff  
DW: making sure i dont lie  
DW: (annoying what a dumb rule)  
DW: (why did i ever make that)  
DW: though  
DW: seems like things have been going pretty well so far  
DW: pretty fast too  
DW: they’re already up to that part of the story  
DW: and its only been what  
DW: three days? four?  
DW: i havent been counting  
DW: maybe you have idk  
DW: you probably care more about this stuff than i do  
DW: which is fair enough  
DW: its hard to care about much these days  
DW: considering the situation  
DW: …  
DW: …  
DW: yeahhh im out of stuff to talk about  
DW: do youuuu  
DW: wanna know more about me?  
DW: thats the crux of things isn’t it  
DW: the one thing everyones trying to find out about  
DW: the end goal  
DW: once thats been figured out  
DW: this whole shindig is over and done with  
DW: well…  
DW: maybe you want to know something a little more trivial?  
DW: hm  
DW: i like 80s songs i guess  
DW: damn you got me  
DW: yep i was born some point after the 80s aw shucks the cats out of the bag  
DW: …  
DW: joking aside  
DW: im still not lying  
DW: but that little factoid isnt relevant to anything  
DW: dont think too hard about it  
DW: maybe you already even knew  
DW: you always paid close attention right?  
DW: thats the kind of person you are  
DW: i think so anyway  
DW: what else do you want to know then  
DW: you know a lot already  
DW: to be fair  
DW: there isnt much i can think of to share  
DW: that would be anything you havent heard before  
DW: well no theres lots i could share  
DW: but for fairness i cant  
DW: i said i wouldnt give mika hints so giving you some wouldnt be right  
DW: are you frowning at that?  
DW: lol perhaps im just imagining things again  
DW: whatever  
DW: if you are  
DW: dont get too upset  
DW: mikas doing really well  
DW: better than i thought  
DW: have some faith in him  
DW: and arashi too  
DW: theyre the kind of people who have no right solving a mystery  
DW: the kind wholl just stumble upon the answers or have it stumble upon them through sheer luck  
DW: i can respect that  
DW: maybe thats already happened?  
DW: you tell me  
DW: (ofc, im fully aware you cant)  
DW: (not while im here)  
DW: (its nice to think about though)  
DW: (being able to talk with you)  
DW: anyway  
DW: if youre still worried about how those two kiddos will do  
DW: i promise  
DW: they will definitely, without a doubt, 100% solve this mystery to its fullest and complete extent  
DW: i guarantee it  
DW: and i never lie  
DW: remember?  
DW: …  
DW: boy that sounded pretty cool right  
DW: like a proper main character or something  
DW: though im more like a side character to be honest  
DW: itd be nice if you disagree  
DW: boost the self esteem  
DW: but dont feel like you have to  
DW: im  
DW: fully aware of the farce trying to call myself a ‘main character’ is  
DW: fully aware of what exactly im trying to achieve here  
DW: how stupid it is  
DW: how stupid the nonsensical things i tout are  
DW: i guess i just like to sound smarter than i really am  
DW: when in reality  
DW: the answer isnt anywhere near as complicated as i make it out to be  
DW: …  
DW: are you?  
DW: aware of that i mean  
DW: thats a stupid question sorry  
DW: hm  
DW: i guess  
DW: even though i call it stupid  
DW: it would be nice if somehow  
DW: you could follow this farce through to the end regardless  
DW: well  
DW: ive taken up too much of your time already  
DW: you probably have better things to do  
DW: or maybe you were expecting something else?  
DW: sorry to disappoint if you were  
DW: i wont distract from things any longer  
DW: this is the last youll hear from me for a little while though  
DW: i know i know my amazing presence will be missed greatly  
DW: lol  
DW: but seriously  
DW: ive got things to do  
DW: to prepare for  
DW: see you soon

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> If you have any comments, feedback or questions, find me at my [tumblr!](http://hightech-lowconfidence.tumblr.com)
> 
> Beta'd by my wonderful and amazing friend [Emily](http://hitokx.tumblr.com/), who agreed to beta for me even though she doesn't know that much about Enstars. Please send her some love!


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